One of the great things about Chislehurst is the people who live and work here.  The people who always go that extra mile and make life just that little bit easier for others.  In that group is the amazing Angie who runs The Studio Projects.  The Studio Projects deliver creative arts projects to children, young people, adults and the elderly some of who are vulnerable or at risk.

Their aim is to promote healthy living and wellbeing in the community by improving mental health and healthy lifestyle.  Through this mindset they offer a variety of classes in dance, fitness and wellbeing including Autism Movement therapy – sessions for children with autism designed to optimise physical development and enhance learning and communication.

Here are some of the sessions that they run:

Reminiscience Thereapy – Dancing Memories with Melrose & Millar

A wonderful therapy that helps individuals with dementia remember events, people, and places from their past lives giving families an opportunity to connect with loved ones, encourage participation, reduce unwanted behaviour and create joy in what can be a stressful time.

The chair based dance sessions have also benefited those with Parkinsons, Arthritis, Joint Pain, Circulation problems and improved muscle memory, mental and physical health as well as feel brighter in themselves. The team are fully qualified movement practitioners – improving health well being in the elderly.

Lego based therapy for Autism

Create & Construct  – The teams is made up of qualified Lego based Therapists that specialise in the areas of speech & language, communication and interaction.

Including:
– Attention & listening
– Understanding of spoken language (receptive)
– Use of spoken language (expressive)
– Social Skills
– Positional language
– Fine motor skills

The Studio Projects qualified therapists are passionate about children’s mental wellbeing and social communication and believe that developing new skills through these sessions will give children the building blocks they need to TAKE ON THE WORLD one brick at a time!

Teen Fitness –

These sessions provide  targeted fitness sessions with qualified Youth Exercise Specialists (YES) to help intervene in the increase in mental health among teenagers and young people.

These sessions are for all children aged 11 years upwards and have made such a difference in their physical and mental health just after 6 weeks & are building friendships and promoting better behaviour by having a focus when not in school.

Autism Movement Therapy

This group provides inclusive dance movement based intervention programmes that are both mainstream and SEN appropriate. They are designed to optimise physical development to accelerate learning and to enhance communication – proving that movement matters.

The team are fully qualified in Autism Movement Therapy practitioners and work with small groups along with parent/carers to help communicate and express themselves.

Studio Projects Chislehurst CIC would also like to enhance the growth by offering targeted wellbeing sessions to help intervene in the increase in mental health issues among teenagers & young people. This is in response to the overwhelming message we received from our customers & local community, that as a result of the pandemic many people especially young people have felt isolated, lonely & experienced a rise in anxiety & depression. A survey by NHS Digital suggested that one in six children in England had a probable mental disorder in 2021.

Working with local schools, they will form the groups for each programme with young people who have identified as experiencing mental health challenges, who perhaps not typically have access to the arts or mindfulness practices and who are not yet in need of third party agencies such as CAMHS or Social services. Each group will work with experienced and qualified facilitators and will experience a range of creative art disciplines designed to take them out of their comfort zone.

This will involve movement including dance, musicality, drama, improvisation, mindfulness and self awareness to help enable them to manage stress, manage behaviour and decrease negative thoughts improving overall wellbeing.

The team work tirelessly fundraising for these projects by putting on community events such as children’s discos, dance – a – thons, bingo nights and more!

Their goal at present is Reminiscence Therapy and chair based exercise in the community and care homes. They want to raise £20,000 and this will go towards 1 years worth of sessions to care homes and community sessions with fully qualified instructors and all equipment to deliver sessions in Reminiscence Therapy, Chair based exercise & Lego Therapy and Teens Fitness.

Each 10 week block in a community venue will cost £1350 (Studio Hire, Qualified Therapists, Insurances)

The Studio have a full PAT tested equipment certificate along with insurance and DBS checks.

They are fully qualified and would like to project that after one year they would like to have licensed their programme to train people in Melrose & Millar Movement for Mind & Body.

The Studio projects work tirelessly to help the local community in whatever way they can, making life just that little bit easier if they can.  Where Angie and her team get their endless energy from we will never know, but in order to help them achieve their goals, local support is needed.  Please support this wonderful local initiative if you can by donating (no amount too small or large!). Please donate HERE.

Author: visit chislehurst