The Story:
Living Words is an arts and literature charity transforming lives and relationships since 2007. We aim to enable the voices of overlooked people, in particular those impacted by dementias, mental ill health, and terminal illness, to be heard and valued by society through engagement in high quality arts activity. We do this through one-to-one participatory projects through which we apply our CPD-accredited and internationally-used Listen Out Loud artistic practice to produce personal and published books, films, theatre, song, events, and, festivals.
We are most known for working with people affected by late stage dementias. In 2019, we started evolving our person-centered practice, to amplify other seldom heard voices. The Living Warriors project was commissioned as part of an innovation funding initiative by NHS authorities in Kent and Medway – The Saving Lives Suicide Prevention Innovation Fund – to explore why people had not taken their own lives, when they had thought that they would. Living Warriors began in March 2019 in our specially-built hub in Folkestone Library, where we came together to explore the moments in which we choose not to end our lives, what keeps us here, and what keeps us going – something the UK has little data on.
The initial project led to a book publication and song ‘Look Up’. Following its success, and the whole project winning The National Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards, Living Words was awarded further funding to make 7 films. The group wanted to share words of survival with more people, to bring hope to others in desperate times. This gave us the idea of creating short ‘message’ films, of cinema quality, to offer support. The co-creative process saw us having a group writing/creation session, followed by individual workshops to shape and hone the films. We looked at 1) What we wanted to say – taking the words directly from our Living Warriors books; and 2) How we wanted to say it – exploring places of meaning and visual metaphor. The films highlight 7 different experiences of survival, but link in making it clear that there are many survivors – in every town, village, and city. The films were premiered at Folkestone’s Silver Screen cinema with project participants, friends and family.
These films premiered 4 days before the UK’s first lockdown, holting our distribution deals. Yet we pivoted. The Living Warriors films were profiled across the BBC, including across BBC’s 10′ o’clock news, BBC South East, BBC Radio Kent, and BBC Ideas as part of their World Suicide Prevention Day campaign 2020, and across the years following. Since the beginning of Living Warriors, Living Words has been commissioned by BBC on their Mental Health outputs, being 1 of 4 charities – (with Mind, Mental Health Foundation & Reading Agency) working with BBC on their Mental Health output and best practice.
This first Living Warriors project bolstered an expansion of us working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our Covid-working precipitated an entire organisational reframe. Now, Listen Out Loud is applied in two participatory strands: Living Experience – working with people affected by late-stage dementias and terminal illness; and Living Warriors – working with people experiencing ongoing mental health concerns.
In addition to project member’s individual books, Living Warriors projects have produced 3 anthologies & 12 short films.
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Living Warriors: Keep Talking was commissioned for World Suicide Prevention Day – 10th September 2024 – by NHS, Kent County Council and Medway Council’s Suicide Prevention Programme. The campaign is focussing on changing the narrative on suicide and calls for viewers to start conversations on this often scary and taboo subject.
In the film original Living Warrior T.J Frost visits other Living Warriors, to see how they are doing…
NHS Kent and Medway’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Kate Langford, said: “As the Living Warriors film highlights, talking about feelings and listening to others is crucial to emotional wellbeing.”
Living Words CPD accredited Listen Out Loud method supports self expression and can work at such a deep level, that not only is the project member transformed through the process, but their relationships are too. Having a book of a person’s words acts to elevate, reinforce and sometimes lighten words so that a person is often heard in a new way by those they are connected to, as well as themselves.
See all Living Warriors films, and learn more about the projects, over at livingwarriors.com.