The patients at Berkeley Vale Mental Health Clinic love a good yarn and now they love to knit.
The clinic has launched a ‘Build a Blanket’ project in accord with Mental Health Month (October) with patients asked to knit squares for a blanket to be donated to Coast Shelter.
Project lead, Vanessa Armstrong, said inpatients and outpatients of the Berkeley Vale Clinic engaged with the project immediately, with altruism really driving participation.
“Knitting is a skill that can be relaxing, even meditative for some, and we have witnessed terrific engagement of patients who have contributed one, or many knitted squares during Mental Health Month,” Armstrong said.
“Our participants have ranged from expert knitters to novices and the mentoring, social engagement and philanthropy of the project is a great step towards good mental health.”
Armstrong said regular contributors have formed a ‘close-knit’ group, with the project playing into the clinic’s holistic range of services that stem from the clinic’s philosophy of ‘people caring for people’.
“An activity like knitting requires self-regulation, problem solving and distress tolerance.
“It requires calibrated motor movements of the hands, can be modified in complexity and can contribute to structure and daily routine,” Armstrong said.
“We’ve had wonderful feedback from patients that this has really spiked their interest in knitting.
“The flow on effect of people helping each other, feeling like they’ve achieved something and are supported, and to delve into that creative space and recruit fine motor skills, it really is so beneficial.”
Source:
Press release, Oct 27
Prue Eakin, Ramsay Health