Supported living service art competition awards talented Macclesfield winner
By The Editor
11th Nov 2024 | Local News
The power of art units us as a species, and indeed service users of a supported living service from all over the North West recently came together for an art competition, including those in Macclesfield.
ISL is a mental health supported living service rated 'good' by the care quality commission.
They have supported living accommodation all over the north of the UK, but are headquartered in Macclesfield.
ISL was started in Blackpool, and have supported living accommodation from Kendal to Leeds. As well as their office on Macclesfield's Churchill Way, ISL has ten flats for service users at an undisclosed site in Macclesfield.
And every so often, the company, which provides ten jobs locally, unites service users together at various social events. With the most recent being, the ISL Art Gallery Exhibition.
The Saul Hay Gallery in Castlefield, Manchester, hosted the event and kindly let ISL and their clients use gallery for free.
The feeling of having their work put up in a city centre gallery, was not only a boost for service users, but also a cracking day out.
David Chorlton is development and communications manager at ISL.
"We provide a wide range of mental health services across the north, UK including Cheshire," he said.
"We are a middle space. We call our service users 'clients', because they have their own tenancy and live independently.
"We help find homes for the clients and provide mental health support, whether someone comes out of hospital or if someone in the community requires support.
"We are that middle ground where we help support people with life skills, and progression and where they want to be.
"We have wonderful stories of clients coming out of hospital, and after support going on to buy their first home and getting a degree.
"We help with voluntary work, getting their first job, supporting them to their local GP.
"We recently hosted client artwork at a professional gallery in Manchester, as we noticed we do have a lot of budding artists in our sites.
"One lady struggled with a lot of anxiety to leave their flat and go into the community. We noticed she was a really good artist, and she has really started to get involved with it.
"We do a lot of workshops for our clients, so we thought it would be a great start for creative expression and to aid mental health.
"We also like to bring people together, and they have made lots of nice friends through that creativity.
"And they have been inspired by other people's work as well."
16 winners were crowned at the ISL Art Gallery Exhibition, including Martha, a winner from Macclesfield, who creating a captivating equestrian piece.
It was free for clients to enter the contest, and if they needed materials, it was available to them.
"Each of the buildings we have, we have a communal room with staff, so we are there for them," added David.
"And in our communal rooms a lot of people already like to paint in, and many did so for the Exhibition."
"A lot of the individuals had never dreamt about having their work in a professional gallery.
"The artwork will be there's to keep. If they want to donate or sell it after that is entirely up to them.
"Special thanks to the Saul Hay Gallery, who donated the room for the day completely for free.
"We are hoping to do it again next year."
But it is not just integration into their communities for their clients that ISL provides, ISL also supports the community in return.
As beyond the art event, ISL Macclesfield also does their bit for charity.
Their Macclesfield charity partner is Silklife Foodbank, staff and clients took on a two-million step challenge for the George Street good cause. Plus one client recently did a Swimathon, raising close to £1000 for Silklife Foodbank.
You can find more about ISL in Macclesfield via THIS LINK and THIS LINK.
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