Reflections on the first workshop - creative writing

On Tuesday the 26th this project finally began! It was so exciting to meet the lovely people that attended our Creative Writing themed workshop, and I hope to see them again at our Photography workshop on Tuesday the 3rd of May. 

The activities supplied at the Creative Writing workshop, whilst unique to that workshop, provided insight into how the following events will take place. Over 2-hours’ worth of collective activities have been created under each theme. These activities are all novice or intermediate level and range from different suggested completion times. For example, one activity may only take roughly 10 minutes to complete, whilst others will take perhaps 45. The reason for this is to keep the workshops flexible and adaptive, suited to the availability of the student Nurses who attend them. By doing it this way, it allows people to attend at their leisure, and find activities to the focus and type of their preference on that day. It’s my hope that the Self-led Resource Pack will take on a similar format. 

I speak for myself when I say this, but I find sometimes one hurdle that emerges when it comes to engaging with creative activities is either not having the time, or the worry that I have to create something perfect. When creating something, if I go into it with the stress of wanting it to be perfect, it’s really coming from a deep-rooted belief that whatever I spend my time on has to be productive, and I need to have something to show for it. I don’t hold others to these standards, and I logically know that productivity isn’t and should not be the default. When we base progress on physically monitored milestones, we are adding to our stress and burnout. Imagine, being so stressed about not relaxing right that you end up burning out! It’s my hope that forming these workshops and activities in this manner may benefit others who perhaps fall into the same category.

So that’s some insight into what the workshops are looking like so far. Now, onto some exciting news. Before the first workshop last week, we met with the incredible Arts team at the University of Stirling. This meeting has yielded some exciting new inspiration for our Self-Led Resource Pack! We’re looking to incorporate some of the gorgeous pieces on permanent show at the University of Stirling into the activities within the resource pack. By building on some of these pieces, we’re hoping to encourage the Nursing students (and Paramedic Science students, but I’ll get to this) to feel a bit more included in the campus. During my time on the course, Pathfoot was predominantly the epicentre of faculty offices and clinical skills workshops. It’s not often that we get a chance to intentionally engage with some of the beautiful pieces that are on offer there.

Now, this is where I hold my hands up to my unintentional bias. I’m a Mental Health Nurse, whose Nursing training was so focused on being a student Nurse, that I admittedly forgot about the Paramedic Science programme and how they could benefit as well. Honestly, it’s quite shameful, considering this project has been born from the idea that it felt like student Nurses could sometime be forgotten about. As a result, this project is officially inviting and encouraging Paramedic Science students to join in if they’re able! We all work in healthcare, and we’re all susceptible to the same complications, even if we’re on different programmes or in different departments. I’m sorry I overlooked this fact up until now!

Next week we’ll be working through some Photography exercises. I’m more of a smart-phone amateur photographer, my main success is taking really well-timed pictures of animals, but that’s where it ends. So next week, it’ll be a mutual learning experience for all. In addition to this, the Creative Writing activities that were available last week will be available for those who were previously unable to attend. This process of bringing forward previous weeks exercises will continue as the workshops develop to allow for flexibility. So if one workshop theme really interested you, but you weren’t available on that date, as long as we’re able to maintain the materials, you can still explore some of the activities.

I promised in my last post to try and keep future updates short, so I’ll round this off by saying that last week I had the honour of attending two award ceremonies. One was for the Vice Chancellor’s Fund, where I got to meet other students awarded funds for their innovative projects, but also where I learned more about this initiative. It’s incredible how the Vice Chancellor and alumni have such passion and belief in the students at the University of Stirling. I sincerely hope that our work will do them proud.

The second was the Student Nursing Times Awards 2023, based down in London. It was here that I got to speak to some phenomenal leaders in Nursing, and truly inspiring student Nurses who are undoubtably going to continue to make tremendous positive impacts in healthcare. I used this opportunity to promote this project and was continuously met with excitement about its development and outcomes. Hopefully, in addition to the phenomenal collaborations we’ve managed to accumulate, this project and its successes will have a ripple effect and provide new insight into the healthcare students experiences.

And that’s it until next time!

Catherine Watson