Journey Woman is a five-day project for women in prison, facilitated by female Geese practitioners. It begins with a powerful full-faced mask performance, which follows the story of Ellie, a woman who has a history of offending but has made some positive changes in her life.
Ellie looks back on key experiences in her life including family trauma, motherhood and prison and contemplates the strategies she has used to cope with these…drug use, self-harm and aggression. She revisits the moment she realises she wants something different…something more.
The performance acts as a catalyst for the following four-and-a-half days of groupwork which enables participants to make connections between Ellie’s story and their own and to explore the direction they want their stories to take. A child’s comfort blanket is introduced in the performance, representing the coping strategies Ellie has used. The groupwork process assists participants to identify and practice the skills and strategies they need to build a more effective ‘blanket’ of their own, which will help them reach their individual goals.
