Daringly Able

A participatory film and anima&on project at Ella & Ridley residential care home, London, in collaborator with Jewish Care.

Need

Although Ella and Ridley was a well-loved home, it was being relocated to a new-build on another site. The community was understandably anxious: staff and families were concerned about the associated risks of moving frail residents – the upheaval was daunting for all.

Jewish Care commissioned us to deliver a project which could help ease the trauma of transition.

The brief was to work in an immersive way, (to provide a positive distraction from the anxiety) and produce a film which celebrated the stories and skills of residents and staff – a legacy that could travel with them to the new site.

A key element of the project was staff training. The training programme was open to all, from hospitality staff, care staff, family members and managers.
The objective was to train them to use creative apps, enabling them to co-facilitate animation sessions with the residents. Methods and Process:

Process

The project spanned 6 months, from staff training, filming, producing animations with residents alongside staff and families, editing and final film showing in the home.

Working in partnership with Ella and Ridley management, led to the project being fully supported by the home. Care workers shifts were rearranged to enable them to spend two full days with us to engage fully in the training.

We asked the staff to choose residents they wished to work with and whose familiar stories they were keen to bring to life through the animation process. Staff were responsible for sourcing appropriate props and photos and made contact with family members for assistance. Backdrops and table-top studios were constructed with our guidance.

Without exception, the residents chose an object to animate, which linked directly to their skills and interests – – a tennis Champions’ silver cup, an artists’ mannequin… Their wish to connect with work and celebrate their skills became an overarching theme for the film and is why we named it ‘Daringly Able’.

Outcomes:

A 25 min film with 6 animated films made by the residents featuring their skills and interests was produced.
Daringly Able’ reveals the enhanced empowerment and investment felt by staff as a result of the training. The project became a vehicle for them to demonstrate their own professional ‘skills’ and integrity.

The project offered residents the opportunity to reconnect with their skills and identity in a creative way alongside their staff member. Leading to a deeper understanding of them as people by their careers and in turn had an effect on the quality of care they received.

In a litigious society where experiences and creative experimentation are often curbed by health and safety concerns Daringly Able exemplifies the benefits of organisations working together to ‘relax’ the rules, to achieve profound results.

The film is used as a training and best practice resource for Jewish Care.

“Learning something new together created a level playing field, a shared experience which we could take with us” Manager, Ella and Ridley.