Poignant Exhibition Tells Stories of a Past and a Future
Inspire is marking its 65th anniversary with a poignant and powerful exhibition, INSPIRED.
Inspire, the mental health and wellbeing charity is marking its 65th anniversary with a poignant and powerful exhibition, INSPIRED, at the Waterfront Hall, bringing together the stories of its service users and staff.
The multi-media exhibition consists of everyday items, each belonging to one individual and prompting a story or memory of a specific point in their life. Each seemingly mundane article (a set of car jump-leads, a 1970s iron, a pair of running shoes, a front door key) has a deeply personal story conveyed through audio narration by the story-tellers themselves. Each shares intimate reflections on their experiences, reflects on their past and, with support from Inspire, looks ahead to the future.
Items on display belong to individuals who have come through trauma, mental illness, discrimination and addiction. Contributors range from two survivors of a mother and baby home, now aged in their 90’s, to a TV film archivist who worked during the troubles, and a young man who, although non-speaking, uses music to communicate. All have benefited from, work with, or provide volunteer support for leading wellbeing charity, Inspire.
Three of these storytellers are:
Barry whose exhibition piece is a whiteboard used in his addiction recovery support group meetings. It was used to give a score out of ten for how he was feeling at each meeting. Barry reflects back on how the days he scored as a two or a three were last year, and how, through Inspire’s group therapy, he’s now in recovery.
Barry has tried many times to break free of his alcohol addiction and says that, through Inspire’s peer support group of people helping each other, this is the longest time he has ever spent in recovery. Recently, Barry fulfilled a life-long ambition of visiting Rathlin Island and he is an outspoken advocate on breaking the stigma of addiction.
Carla whose exhibition piece is an airport ARRIVALS sign. At 16, Carla required specialist children’s mental health care. As this wasn’t available in Northern Ireland, she was admitted to an Adult Mental Health Unit in England. She had long-term treatment in a specialist young person’s mental health unit. After a year and a half, when Carla was discharged, a taxi was called for her and aged just 19, she navigated the trip home to Belfast by herself.
Reflecting on the Arrivals sign, Carla recalls on how vulnerable and alone she felt returning home. When she arrived back to Belfast she stayed initially in a hostel, then eventually got her own flat, and she found the transition to the silence of a place of her own very challenging. Carla now has two children and she is looking forward to starting her studies with The Open University. She attends Inspire’s Aspen Day Centre in Belfast, where she benefits from social interaction and recovery focused support.
Hanora whose exhibition piece is a Certificate in Community Mental Health training notebook. As a schoolgirl, Hanora was in the centre of Omagh on 15 August 1998 when the bomb exploded. She was in very close proximity to the explosion and although physically uninjured, she suffered the heavy psychological impact of PTSD. This lay deep-seated and was re-triggered three years later on 9/11 2001, when Hanora was a first-year student in Belfast.
With the support of her family, Hanora had 12 weeks of Trauma Focused cognitive behavioural psychotherapy and says she truly believes this saved her life. Once in recovery, she wanted to help others like her. Having started a degree in Law and Politics, she switched to Psychology, obtained her degree and she now leads Inspire’s Community Wellbeing Service back home in Omagh. Hanora initially came to work in Inspire to gain hands on experience so she could complete her PhD in Clinical Psychology; 17 years later, she’s still there.
The INSPIRED exhibition is to mark 65 years of the charity, which was established in Belfast in 1950 by Lady Margaret Wakehurst, in an era when there was no mental health support outside of formal psychiatric hospitals. Lady Wakehurst had supported her son through mental illness and she resolved to improve the mental health care available and to change society’s attitudes to mental illness.
The original Beacon community mental health centre in Belfast was the first of its kind; it grew to become Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health (NIAMH); and now, known as Inspire, the charity is one of the largest providers of mental health, addiction and intellectual disability services in Ireland, supporting over 25,000 people every year.
Kerry Anthony MBE, Chief Executive of Inspire said,
As we mark the 65th anniversary of Inspire, we have been reflecting a lot on our organisation and our people. In some ways we are unrecognisable from that first support group in University Street in Belfast, all those years ago.
"And, yet the values that shape our mission and our objectives today are inextricably linked to the values that underpinned that first Beacon centre: to improve lives, ensure that people are treated fairly and create the conditions in which everyone may live with dignity and reach their full potential."
“Lady Wakehurst named our very first service Beacon because she wanted “a name suggesting light.” Six decades later, I am proud to lead this very special organisation that shines a light of hope and changes the lives of thousands every year.”
Kerry Anthony has also shared a story piece for the exhibition: a London A to Z guide, from her early career in the 1990’s, when she worked for a homeless shelter for young men in the capital city. She recalls a time when, after an incident with a young man experiencing homelessness in the shelter she was working in, she raced to her office to issue him with a final written warning, and “in that moment I knew I held all the power – to make someone homeless again or not”. It’s an instant that anchors Kerry’s commitment to social justice and the values-based approach to her leadership of the 900-strong Inspire staff team.
Iain Bell, Acting Chief Executive, ICC Belfast, Waterfront Hall and Ulster Hall said,
It’s a great privilege to host the INSPIRED exhibition in the Waterfront Hall and to showcase these moving and deeply personal stories, all of which offer a strong sense of hope and optimism.
We selected Inspire as our charity partner as their values align strongly with ours. We are continually impressed by their passion and drive to make a difference in Belfast and Northern Ireland, and to deliver life-changing and life-saving services.
"We have huge respect for Inspire’s work and hope that many people passing through the Waterfront Hall in the coming weeks will take a little time to experience the exhibition, and hopefully be as moved by Inspire’s wonderful work as we are.”
The INSPIRED Exhibition is on display in Belfast Waterfront Hall Bar 2 until January. For more information visit www.inspirewellbeing.org/inspired
