Wellbeing Boxes provided great joy for clients in East Kent
Mandy Quy-Verlander of People United with East Kent Mind’s Fiona Tapley
Two clients from East Kent Mind were delighted to receive a Wellbeing Box this month from the Radical Gifting project created by People United.
Radical Gifting is designed around gift making and receiving, with the aim of fostering wellbeing and generating interconnectedness with/between people experiencing social isolation.
Each of the Wellbeing Boxes provided included artist-made sensory objects, designed in collaboration with community participants, to bring the coast to those who can’t access it.
Funding from Age UK, Canterbury City Council and Kent Community Foundation has enabled Radical Gifting to help people across East Kent
The first phase of Radical Gifting began in 2023, when People United commissioned three local artists to work with socially isolated individuals in their homes, to evoke an immersive experience of the East Kent coastline.
This summer they are working with artists Lo Lo No, Elly Rutherford, and Sadie Hennessy on phase two. The artists visited Newgate Gap Beach in Margate for a Coastal Immersion session led by coastal permaculture group Flints. The purpose of the session was to connect and gather inspiration before meeting the collaborators.
When introduced to each other, the community participants and the artists explored the coastal theme of the project, considering what most reminded them of the coast, what they enjoyed about the coast, and what that felt like across their different senses.
The result of these conversations were two co-designed sensory objects per artists and collaborator pair. One of these objects was reproduced by the artist and the other was designed to be produced by other members of the community; culminating in 20 wellbeing boxes. The boxes have been distributed to other socially isolated individuals across East Kent, including two clients from East Kent Mind who received their Wellbeing Boxes in Ramsgate.
About the boxes distributed to East Kent Mind clients, Fiona Tapley (Quality and Services Manager) said: “A huge thank you for the wonderful gifts and the time given to our clients. It was an absolute pleasure to see our two ladies ‘light up’ with joy it made them feel really special. What a wonderful project Radical Gifting is.”
Mandy Quy-Verlander, from People United, said: “Thank you to the amazing staff at East Kent Mind for supporting People United with the delivery of our Coastal Wellbeing Boxes to two lovely clients. The session prompted conversations and memories of the coast, and they were grateful to have received a gift, where so much thought has gone into it. Twenty five artist made boxes were produced in collaboration with socially isolated folks, and delivered to various individuals with help and support from agencies and organisations known to them.”
For more information about Radical Gifting, please visit the information page on the People United website at:
https://peopleunited.org.uk/our-projects/radical-gifting/
