Great Ormond Street Hospital is pioneering a new way of improving communication, social skills and self-efficacy for young people with a range of mental health problems, through the innovative use of magic and the performing arts. The project has been designed in collaboration with Magic Circle magicians, clinical staff working within an inpatient mental health unit, academics in the field of child neurology and young mental health service-users.
It is a bespoke programme that uses specially selected and scaled magic tricks and performing skills as a creative tool to enable young people with mental health problems to engage with their health and wellbeing in a fun and playful way, while at the same time being highly effective.
Some key findings from this work show that
- 72% of the young people reported feeling an improvement in one of the following three areas following Breathe Magic sessions: mood, self-confidence and feelings about themselves, with no incidences where children reported feeling worse after a session.
- 100% of the young people reported that they felt the Breathe Magic sessions benefitted them.
- Staff commented that they noticed children’s confidence increase and that the young people talked more openly in group therapy sessions post the Breathe Magic intervention, as they believed the programme broke down barriers between the young people.
You can view a short film of the Breathe Magic project :https://vimeo.com/77051891
You can find more information about the work of Positive Practice Mental Health http://positivepracticemh.com/