Headway Devon is a local charity that operates a network of day centres and a one-to-one outreach service which helps people rebuild their lives after life-changing brain injury, through illness or accident, with provision of information and support services.    

Brain injury has many causes but some of the most common are head injury, stroke, brain tumour, and illnesses like meningitis.

All Headway’s services are tailored to the needs of the individual. Whether it’s help to return to work, support to remain independent at home, or the chance to go out and socialise, their aim is to support people with brain injuries to live happier and more independent lives. 

Headway Devon exists to ensure that when a person’s life is turned upside down by brain injury, they get the help and support they need and deserve. They are the local acquired brain injury specialists and have been providing services for people with brain injuries for 20 years.

MAKE Southwest first began working with Headway Devon (Exeter) on an occasional basis in 2016. We funded a pilot series of creative workshops for Headway clients which proved to be well attended and popular. Further funding from Exeter City Council and The Wakefield Trust allowed the project to develop with weekly workshops running through most of 2017 and the early part of 2018. 

The workshops were run by artist Charlotte Turner with additional input from other makers, bookbinder Megan Stallworthy and textile artist Tracey Benton.
The project culminated in a two-week exhibition, A Creative Viewpoint, Then and Now, in our Riverside Gallery on 9 – 15 March 2018. 

Further funding was generously provided by The Wakefield Trust, but Covid-19 and its lockdowns prevented the next workshop sessions until the spring of this 2022.  Charlotte has now been able to return to Headway and has run another series of workshops for Headway users.

“For the last 3 months I have had the great pleasure of facilitating sessions at Headway Exeter. Using the simplicity of collage, concertina sketchbooks, collagraph printing and some sewing, we have been able to create a myriad of personal ‘documents’ which give a little insight into individual inspiration, desires, memories, frustrations and sadness. 

As always, when I start a new project, I wanted to allow things to develop organically, enabling each person to explore new materials and techniques but honouring individuality and self-expression. There are no rules to creativity, it is a colourful printout that is in the middle of the space to illicit discussion and often humour!  

I’m always inspired by the energy and enthusiasm at Headway, the staff and participants come together to help one another, with kindness, warmth and understanding. The only outcome I focus on is enjoyment, fun in that moment and something different from the daily struggle of living with an acquired brain injury and all that it involves . 

Collage, and particularly magazine-based collage, is a great starting point for conversation and sharing; images found and chosen have symbolism which triggers memories, feelings and stories. I use these creative practices myself to explore new themes in my own work. As a painter, the freedom to play without any particular agenda or judgement is often where the magic happens.”

Feedback from Headway Clients

Feedback from the Headway Team

Social and emotional wellbeing   

The craft/art workshops have allowed participants to socialise while engaged in creative activity. Participants self-confidence, support for each other and sense of purpose visibly increases when they sit down together to make things. Friendships have been made, conversations taken place, small but meaningful things, which have added to their wellbeing and engendered a sense of achievement.  

Practical and transferable skills  

Art activities are an effective way of supporting people with brain injuries to develop practical and transferable skills. Fine motor control through undertaking delicate and detailed work, regaining flexible thinking through taking part in creative exercises, improving attention and concentration through participation in an extended project, improved planning and understanding of sequencing to use materials effectively, and developing spatial awareness have been monitored by Headway Devon staff throughout the project. With reference to the participants comments listed above, Headway staff have made the following observations:  

• For people with communication difficulties who can struggle to express their thoughts and feelings, this focus on expression is fantastic to hear. The mentions of relaxation are also important, as many of the people within the group experience difficulties in processing and coping with negative emotions, often resulting in angry outbursts. The relaxation and expressive elements of the project have helped these clients to acknowledge, understand and work through these feelings. Motivation is also a big issue for the people that we work with, and thanks to this project our clients are now motivated to continue their work and take part in more arts activities both at the centre and at home.  

• Although we have noticed practical improvements to executive skills in the way group members approach tasks – e.g. ensuring they have all their equipment to hand before starting and planning projects with layers of paint or collage (visualising a final design and breaking it down into parts to achieve this goal), the main benefits highlighted by our clients have been focussed on the therapeutic value of the course and the difference it has made to their emotional wellbeing. This is typical of our client group, who often do not realise the progress that they are making.  

The Headway Devon Exeter Day Centre Team have had the pleasure of working with MAKE Southwest with a group of ten clients and several volunteers and students.
At first the client group were unsure and anxious about what the project would involve because of the change to their day. Brain injury is such a traumatic change to people’s lives that sometimes being able to control the small things makes life bearable. Sometimes after brain injury, the ability to cope with change is impaired and people require outside support to manage these feelings. The day centres provide this support (amongst many other things) in a safe environment.
During the beginning stages some clients really took to the project, unleashing their creativity, while some clients felt uneasy about creating something of their own. This is where the client group really came together; everyone supported each other in finding what they felt drawn to.
The project grew into its own entity; the people grew too. The clients became more comfortable with each other, more confident in themselves and their abilities, their creativity and artistic expression developed and expanded. The volunteers and staff felt included and delighted in being able to support the clients in their creations, their input was valued, and they assisted in taking the artwork to the next level with clients in back-and-forth ideas and discussions.
The students were able to develop their understanding of brain injury and how it impacts people differently. They could see how brain injury can affect the ability to express yourself, but through artistic creation and expression, our clients could communicate in a different way. They were able to see how brain injury can affect the ability to use art tools, but with a few tweaks and some support, our clients were able to overcome these difficulties. They were able to see how brain injury can leave people feeling frustrated, perhaps knowing that they could do these things independently before or at a faster pace, but through resilience and perseverance, our clients were able to push past these feelings and we were all able to witness the individual and group sense of pride and achievement.
Thank you, MAKE Southwest, for providing the opportunity, resources, experience and time to create something truly magical.