Wednesday 16 November 2022
Speech and Language Therapy staff at Les Marais Centre welcome service users to a new and improved therapeutic environment.
Working with HSC's Culture, Arts & Health Manager, Sammy Giovinazzi from GIO Creative, and Sally Peacock, Speech and Language Therapist, the aim of the refurbishment project was to:
- Create a welcoming environment.
- Support navigation around the space.
- Offer diversionary but not over stimulating artwork in each therapy room.
- Create a wall graphic explaining the communication tree.
Lottie Barnes, HSC Culture Arts & Health Manager said:
'The inspiration for the theme of this project was the book 'The Lost Words'. (A collaboration by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris). The book celebrates the relationship between language and the living world.
It was born out of the findings that British primary school children were more at ease naming their favourite Pokémon character than they were at naming a hare, a deer or an oak tree. Alongside this the revision of the new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed words such as acorn, bluebell and kingfisher as they were no longer used enough by children to merit inclusion.
We chose a few of the 'Lost Words' for our Therapy Rooms such as kingfisher, heron and newt and included a puffin to keep it local to Guernsey... we all love Puffins!'
Fiona Black. Senior Speech and Language Therapist said:
'We are absolutely delighted with the transformation of our therapy rooms. The children love it and enjoy looking at, and naming, all the animals and colours they can see.
As staff we love the new welcoming environment which feels very calming and are very grateful for the help and support from Lottie and Sammy.'
