Geese and the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Team (DART) at HMP Rye Hill have a long-standing partnership, which sees practitioners from the company visit the prison several times a year to deliver a bespoke version of our Used project. Our visits were paused during the pandemic but earlier this month we were delighted to return to work at the prison. Used is a half-day groupwork input aimed at people in prison settings, who are already engaged in work on their own drug or alcohol use and have some motivation to change.
This delivery saw 6 participants take part, alongside two members of DART’s staff, all of whom were fully engaged with the content and found the session to be a valuable experience. Groupwork centred on our iconic ‘fragment masks’ and included practical exercises to explore triggers to relapse, links between substance misuse and offending, and motivation to change.
Participants got involved with an interactive demonstration of the ‘fragment masks’ and discussed how they function as potential justifications for ‘using’, and therefore act as barriers to change. They then identified the masks which they may need to be aware of in their on-going recovery.
“It always fascinates me to watch the people on the course, they start off looking at the practitioners and you know that they are thinking “What have I got myself into”. They are wary about anything new and Used is such a unique session, however by the end of the session, everybody and I mean everybody can not stop talking about how good it was and how they can all relate to at least one of the masks.”
Coral Parmee, Senior DART Worker, HMP Rye Hill
“It was brilliant to be back inside a prison, delivering work which the men clearly find beneficial, and working with a staff team that understand and value our work.”
Andy, CEO and Artistic Director, Geese Theatre Company
