Art therapy helps girls affected by youth violence

• Charity programme uses creative expression projects to deliver therapeutic support
• Sessions are co-produced with young women traumatised by serious violence
• Peer mentors support other young people starting new projects

ACTION

For many of the teenagers that attend sessions at Milk & Honey, it might be the first time they have spoken about the trauma they have experienced.

Ebinehita Iyere, a youth practitioner at charity Juvenis, which co-ordinates the project, says she was inspired to set up a “safe space” for young people in Lambeth after a teenager was killed. It has developed into a community service offering therapeutic support exclusively for young girls affected by violence.

“For every male that we’ve lost, there are a lot of females behind them that no one sees also affected by the violence,” she explains.

“We don’t look at the fact a lot of these girls have grown up in the community. When these boys die or go to jail, they suppress their pain to keep the next boy safe and out of harm.”

Supported by funding from the London Community Foundation, Milk & Honey is run by Iyere together with a team of volunteers.

Many of the girls refer themselves to the project but schools also make referrals for those pupils that might benefit from the sessions, says Iyere.

Group projects run over eight weeks with participants deciding the format of each weekly session.

“Milk & Honey allows girls to be girls,” she says. “We allow them to play whether that’s through photography or going to the theatre,” Iyere explains.

She says the sessions are deliberately co-produced with the girls to engage them with the project’s healing, empowerment and resilience (HER) ethos.

“We needed to create a space where young girls could be able to heal but also feel empowered and resilient.

“The best way to do that is to use creative expression which allows them to feel safe and comfortable to express how they feel,” she says.

Each cohort works together to co-produce an end-of-project event which showcases their work and benefits the community. Examples have included an exhibition and a “self-care” evening.

After each project finishes, three or four of the girls will go on to the next cohort to act as peer leaders, says Iyere.

“They become the support system for other girls,” she says. “Adults are not always going to be there so we need to develop more resilient young women so they can support themselves.”

Expanding on the concept of empowering young people to allow them to express their emotions is a parallel project, Voices of the Unheard. The project, which is run by Juvenis for girls and boys, also uses therapeutic methods to get them to talk about their “unheard voices” on issues such as violence but also mental health or school exclusion.

Iyere says a six-week project run last year looked at topics such as the media and the police – with a police officer invited to join the project’s “healing circle” for one of the sessions.

IMPACT

Iyere says a range of methods are used to evaluate the impact the projects have had on participants.

Since 2016, more than 200 young people have been reached by Milk & Honey through group work as well as school assemblies.

However, Iyere says the increase in violent incidents during 2019 made it the project’s “most powerful year” to date.

Feedback is gathered for Milk & Honey using self-evaluation forms which ask the girls to consider how the project has impacted on their personal and educational development.

Many report an increase in confidence, self-esteem as well as improved leadership and teamwork skills.

One participant said: “Milk & Honey opened the door for me to speak out about mental health issues. I was so used to being aware of mental health issues but never having the space to talk about it. I felt more motivated after going on trips and writing letters to my future and past self.”

Another said: “They showed me a different side of life. Being in a safe space with other females where we could talk about topics like mental health and growth helped me talk about my thoughts.”

Meanwhile, the work of young people involved in Voices of the Unheard was recognised when they were invited to take part in a violence reduction youth day at London City Hall.

• Read more in CYP Now's Therapeutic Care Special Report