From the City to the Sea: An immersive journey to support care home staff wellbeing
A Southampton sociologist, pianist and artist has combined her skills to co-create – with care home staff – a nature-themed art and music video to support wellbeing.
Cindy Brooks, Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, has co-produced the ‘time-out’ video in recognition of the contribution that busy care home staff give to society.
She worked with Turner Sims Southampton, John Hansard Gallery and the university’s Health and Wellbeing Community Hub.
The three-minute video takes the viewer on a journey ‘From the City to the Sea’, shown through Cindy’s colourful and eye-catching paintings, and accompanied by music she composed and played on the piano.
Cindy said: “I wanted to co-create something specifically with and for care home staff to recognise their contribution and support wellbeing, as well as provide a resource for residents and family members.”
She co-created the video through an online workshop with a group of care home staff from four UK-based care homes, who informed the choice of imagery and music and provided quotes of their experiences of engaging with nature, music and art.
Cindy added: “I hope this resource will help to recognise the value of art and music to wellbeing. Art and music aren’t specific to certain individuals – they are important to everyone’s wellbeing, and they are important to inclusivity and bringing us together.”
She is keen to hear people’s views on the video and is running a survey to collect feedback.
It is the third wellbeing video resource that Cindy has co-created. The second, A Walk in the Park, was released in December 2022.