ROUNDABOUT
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : b***y@r********************y.o*g.uk
Mission Statement
Roundabout is a registered charity specialising in using Dramatherapy to help some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in society. Roundabout’s Dramatherapy projects use drama, storytelling and play to create a therapeutic safe space for personal discovery and growth. All its work is facilitated by qualified and professionally supported dramatherapists. Roundabout was founded in 1985 and is the only non-statutory organisation in the UK to provide a quality Dramatherapy service of this scale, depth, breadth and excellence. Its work helps over 350 people every year, enabling them to cope with bereavement, trauma, depression, abuse, communication problems, and low self-esteem. It supports children with autism, vulnerable children and young people, adults with learning disabilities and older people with dementia. This is what some of Roundabout’s service users have said: This is better than any medicine. I feel happier. Dramatherapy has helped me with my feelings and I felt relief. Having a chance to express my feelings has had a good effect on my behaviour. I think you should come to dramatherapy because it calms you down and makes you feel happy. Very rewarding, the fact that I was able to unload my concerns about things. I wish we could meet like this everyday.
About This Cause
WHO Roundabout is a dramatherapy charity founded in 1987 to meet the mental well-being needs of people of all ages and all abilities. As the largest independent provider of a dramatherapy service in the UK, we are unique in terms of size and years of experience, and the only organisation in the UK that offers tailor-made, professionally facilitated and supervised, dramatherapy sessions to such a wide range of clients. We create, research and develop dramatherapy projects, collaborating with other professionals, across London. We are an award-winning organisation, with a unique standing within the dramatherapy community. We work with a large team of dramatherapists. All our dramatherapists are qualified to MA level, registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service. They work as part of the Roundabout team, with professional and dedicated clinical and managerial supervision. WHAT Roundabout is dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable people of all ages – children and young people, adults and older people – using the creative power of drama-related techniques to enhance mental health, and generate improvements in coping strategies, anxiety levels, self-expression and confidence. We use dramatherapy to develop clients’ communication skills, to help them build trusting relationships and to enable them to cope better with society and change. Roundabout uses drama as a therapeutic tool to engage with disadvantaged people of all ages and all abilities, generating improvements, which are genuine, long-lasting and sustainable. We use dramatherapy to reflect back how people express themselves, building communication bridges. We use it to tell stories with our service users, because an oblique, theatre-based approach to looking at difficult experiences helps people safely come to terms with traumas. We act out these stories to explore coping strategies and to discover opportunities for change. And we use them to build friendships between people who are isolated. WHERE Our projects take place at the service users’ normal location, to ensure maximum accessibility. We work in partnership with the schools, day centres and residential homes which host the projects, developing genuine communication with the people connected to our service users. WHEN In general, our projects take place for a half a day or a whole day, once a week, for a minimum of three months. In many cases, we work in centres over a number of years, supporting different beneficiaries at different times, as new students or residents arrive, or new issues develop. WHY We believe that dramatherapy can transform the lives of people from all backgrounds and that the best creative practices provide support for people to do well in learning, in life and in preparation for the world of work. We witness each day the transformative effect that drama, used as a therapeutic tool, has on people coping with trauma, disabilities or challenging mental health issues. “I think you should come to dramatherapy because it calms you down and makes you feel happy.” The reality of the problems faced by the young and old, and for those with physical and/or learning disabilities is incontestable. 20% of older adults living in the community are depressed and 40% living in care homes are depressed Often the result of loneliness and loss of self-esteem, the burden of physical disability and illness, and the effects of medication By the age of 16, 70% of children report feeling sad or anxious at least once a week with nearly a quarter having negative feelings as much as once a day (Barnardo’s) Nearly half of 12 year olds in England surveyed also felt this way at least once a week The majority of 12 to 16 year olds in England (75%) think it would be helpful if they had a counsellor or another professional at their school to talk to when they’re feeling down and upset Someone with a learning disability has a 25-40% increased likelihood of developing mental health issues, due to the additional social, psychological and emotional problems they encounter (Mencap) A learning disability is a life-long condition affecting roughly 2% of the UK population, impacting on levels of intellectual and cognitive functioning, often complicated by physical health problems and communication difficulties HOW WE ADDRESS IT – WHAT WE DO Dramatherapy uses drama-related art forms to improve mental health. We build confidence, reduce isolation, overcome disadvantages and unlock potential. We help people understand their needs and emotions, develop their communication skills and enable them to cope with society and change. Aims for each individual are identified through discussion with the client and the referrer. Our work also focuses on achieving improvements in the following: confidence and self-esteem sense of self and how to relate to others opportunities to develop creativity and imaginative thinking co-operation and turn-taking social and communication skills skills to work effectively alone and with others mental wellbeing THE DIFFERENCE WE MAKE In this section, our service users, and the people who support, speak for themselves. Names have been changed to protect confidentiality. Older adults I was very lonely until I joined this group. I thought it was very interesting Very happy - most of it has been due to what we’ve been talking about today I feel as though I’ve been lifted out of this contraption (her wheelchair) and walked. Member’s moods after each session were upbeat and they appeared content and happy and said they had been on a lovely journey. She has really enjoyed going to dramatherapy. She has also been less depressed and looks forward to going every week. Learning disabilities We were a nice group and we are better friends now. Dramatherapy is invaluable. It has helped John’s self-confidence and he has been able to explore different ‘aspects’ of himself within a safe creative environment. You were able to engage some of our more complex and shy customers, keeping their interest and high attendance. She completely stopped being in conflict with peers and in the past it was happening from time to time. She seems much happier and balanced. CYP It made me happy. Thank you. Dramatherapy helped me talk to my mum about things which were bothering me, and I have had the confidence to do that, so that’s an improvement. It helped with the problems I had. Big problems, small problems, that kind of stuff. Before I joined dramatherapy I was very quiet and I never raised my hand to answer questions but now my confidence has grown. I know how to socialize more and I used to not be very good at socializing. Dramatherapy has helped a bit about friendships and helping other people. At first I was a bit scared, but now I feel it has helped me a lot with my confidence and feelings. I don’t really get that much attention at home. OUTPUTS Every year, we benefit 400 people, aged 3 to over 90, 100% of whom are disadvantaged, and facilitate 50 weekly projects, working with 24 different client groups, 47% of whom are non-white British. HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS Our Dramatherapists collect statistical data and record the extent to which sessions meet the reasons for referral and achieve Roundabout’s core outcomes. We evaluate our work through: Clinical supervision Written reports by dramatherapists Written feed-back from beneficiaries and staff/parents/carers Psychlops evaluation Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires OUTCOMES AND IMPACT 86% of Roundabout’s service users improve their confidence and self-esteem. A thematic analysis of comments relating to work with children with ASD showed that the most frequently expressed benefits of dramatherapy were: Enjoyment Positive impact Improved social skills/friendships/relationships Improved ability to express and explore feelings The high quality of the dramatherapists and the sessions Improved self-confidence Improved behaviour in the classroom 91% of Roundabout’s beneficiaries increase their communication skills. Evaluation using Psychlops Kids has yielded significant ‘effect’ sizes of 1.20 with CYP and 1.64 with adults with learning disabilities, demonstrating that Roundabout’s dramatherapy is an effective intervention, creating significant outcomes. 90% of people we work with increase their ability to express and explore feelings Evaluation material produced by our projects with older adults was analysed by the Centre for Dementia Studies at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. This analysis showed that service users felt they were more confident and positive at the end of dramatherapy, with improvements in areas such as being creative and sharing problems with others. 89% of Roundabout’s service users increase their ability to work creatively. Goal Attainment Scoring (GAS) was used to evaluate work with adults with learning disabilities, and showed significant improvements in: self-awareness positive relationships self-confidence engagement in activities physical self-expression and spontaneity awareness of boundaries positive self-image 88% of the people we work with develop stronger relationships. LEADERSHIP AND MANGEMENT: At the heart of Roundabout there are two bedrock ethics: the effectiveness of using drama as a therapeutic medium, and the strength which comes from working as a team. Under the management of a Board of Trustees, Roundabout is run by its two CEOs and a Lead Dramatherapist, with administrative support. Roundabout’s CEOs are Lynn Cedar and Deborah Haythorne. They met and became friends whilst training to be dramatherapists in 1984. Roundabout continues to be invigorated and strengthened by the ethos of team work. PARTNERSHIP WORKING: Roundabout creates close partnerships with the organisations which host the 50 weekly dramatherapy projects we facilitate yearly. Working in partnership ensures our dramatherapy projects achieve the maximum benefits for service users and gives us a wide-ranging network amongst schools and other services.