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The Brain Charity is now offering innovative dance and craft workshops, free-of-charge to children with neurological conditions based anywhere in in the UK.
The Brain Changer Arts Project was launched last year by The Brain Charity, a Liverpool organisation with a national reach, thanks to funding from BBC Children in Need. The project harnesses the power of the arts to help some of the more than 500,000 young people across the UK with neurological conditions or brain injuries.
Up to this point the workshops have only been available to specific school groups in Liverpool but now, thanks to safe, private video technology and a second instalment of funding, The Brain Charity has been able to open the project up to young people from anywhere in the UK.
From 25 July 2020 fun, weekly, online video sessions will provide occupational therapy through arts and crafts, as well as physiotherapy through dance. They will be open to children of any age.
All activities provided in the sessions are specifically designed to stimulate multiple parts of the brain and to improve cognitive function; dancing boosts motor control and balance, reduces stress and increases serotonin levels, while crafting assists with dexterity, hand-eye coordination and memory. Sessions also provide opportunity for children and their parents or carers to make new friends.
In the project’s first year organisers have noticed life-changing benefits for the young people taking part. More than a third of participants found their mobility improved and confidence levels increased among more than half of attendees. It is fantastic news that the Brain Charity is now able to role these sessions out to a much larger number of children.
Nanette Mellor, CEO of The Brain Charity, said: “We are so excited to have been awarded this funding by BBC Children in Need.
“Access to physiotherapy for our young people is so limited these days, and we are sure these workshops will improve their wellbeing and set them up for as healthy and active a life as possible.”
Join the first session
The first hour-long public taster session will take place at 11am on Saturday 25 July 2020.
Children can look forward to taking part in physiotherapy through creative dance, with help from a professional physiotherapist and dance instructor.
To sign up, visit The Brain Changer Arts Project on The Brain Charity’s website, or email Project Coordinator Joanne Jackson at joanne@thebraincharity.org.uk.
Once the project is up and running, previous video sessions will be available to view on The Brain Charity’s YouTube page.
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