Our free Crafting Families Project, which will be delivered weekly in The Salvation Army Southwick Community Project (Austin House), will provide 2 hours of dedicated family time to local families. Each session will include a range of different arts and crafts activities to support families to learn and play together. Activities include painting and drawing, upcycling everyday items into household decor, card-making, weaving, clay modelling, sewing and yarn-based crafts. We are also developing a community garden in the grounds of Austin House, so sessions will include gardening and environmentally-sound upcycling. Healthy refreshments will be provided at each session and families will be signposted to additional services that they may require in the local area, including the activities and advice-based support services that are delivered at Austin House. Each family will be able to sign up for a 6-week course of sessions, to allow for attendee rotation and maximum family engagement.

What we'll deliver:

• Support to around 40 local families
• Venue hire for 6 months
• Provision of healthy snacks to all attendees
• Sessional staffing costs for 6 months
• Provision of all arts and crafts materials for sessions
• Provision of a safe and comfortable family space
• Signposting to all families

Why it's a great idea:

This project idea has been developed over a number of months with other support workers operating in Southwick. As the provider of adult and children's arts and crafts sessions at Austin House, we have spoken to a number of session attendees about the need for something creative to do as a whole family. Local parents are looking for opportunities to spend quality time with their children and the children that attend the after-school arts and crafts classes are always so excited to share their creations with their parents/ carers. This project will be delivered at a well-known community facility in the heart of Southwick, which has long struggled with low-incomes, social problems and financial deprivation. This project will bring something new and exciting into the area and encourage the engagement of hard-to-reach families, who will then be encouraged to access further support services. Learning and playing together will support family bonding and positive mental health benefits.

Steps to get it done:

• Promoting the project to the local community
• Buying arts and crafts materials
• Collecting materials for recycling/ upcycling
• Delivering 6 months of weekly sessions
• Signing up families for the sessions
• Carrying out wellbeing surveys with all attendees at the start of the project
• Carrying out wellbeing surveys with all attendees at the end of their course

This project will be provided to local families completely free of charge, thus removing any financial barriers to attending. Austin House is located directly alongside Southwick Primary School and there are close working relationships between the two organisations. The sessions will be promoted within both organisations and widely amongst the local, family-heavy population, helping to ensure that the maximum number of potential beneficiaries will learn about the project. Involvement in arts and crafts has long been proven to have a positive impact of mental health and wellbeing and by supporting families to engage in these activities together, will help to strengthen family relationships. New support networks and friendship groups will be developed within the sessions and will help attendees to find mutual support and build resilience outside of the sessions. The initial project will run for 6 months with this funding, with the aspiration to continue long into the future.