Children and young people in Croydon living with epilepsy are set to receive additional support from Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, thanks to funding via Croydon Health Charity.
The charity recently received a £2,950 grant from Beckenham Theatre Trust to deliver a new creative arts therapy programme to provide peer support and access to the arts.
The project follows feedback from parents and carers and will involve a six-week programme in 2025 for primary and secondary school-aged children who are receiving care at the Trust.
The programme will be creative arts-focused, aimed at creating a space for children and young people with epilepsy and their carers or patients to:
- Connect with one another
- Share their unique experience
- Gain both professional and peer-to-peer support for families
- Be given the tools for self-empowerment and therefore improve the resilience and mental health of children and young people with epilepsy
Creative Arts Psychotherapists from the Indigo Team, a specialist service based at Croydon University Hospital, will host two lots of six, two-hour sessions for 16 children of primary and secondary age at a community venue, which will include both joint and separate sessions for parents or carers and children.
Dramatherapist: Sophia Jackson-Gill
The team will also aim to provide some one-off workshops for older harder to engage teenagers and their carers and parents.
Sophia Jackson-Gill, lead dramatherapist at the Indigo Team, said: “Dramatherapy provides so many positive benefits to children and young people living with epilepsy and also provides a bridge between them and their carers or parents.
“We are very grateful to Croydon Health Charity and Beckenham Theatre Trust for providing the funding for this vital programme.”
Malcolm Jones, the chair of trustees at Beckenham Theatre Trust, said: “We’re delighted that we have been able to provide funding for this creative arts therapy programme.
“Our theatre trust recognises the importance of promoting the access of arts to children who have a disability and how the arts can have a positive impact on their mental health.”
This creative arts programme is part of Croydon Health Charity’s wider work to support the paediatrics department at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and “ensure that children have the best possible patient experience”.
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