Being known, branching out: troupes, teams and recovery
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-12-2018-0039 |
| Date | 29 August 2019 |
| Published date | 29 August 2019 |
| Pages | 212-227 |
| Author | Catherine Rachel Heinemeyer,Nick Rowe |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health |
Being known, branching out: troupes,
teams and recovery
Catherine Rachel Heinemeyer and Nick Rowe
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to reach beyond existing research into the mental health benefits of
arts-based or educational opportunities, to discover the particular impact on members’recovery processes
of being part of a committed, long-term troupe or community –specifically focussing on specialist theatre
companies.
Design/methodology/approach –Following a literature review investigating the growing number of
theatre troupes for men tal health service users , qualitative resear ch was conducted into one s uch
company. In-depth qual itative interviews wer e conducted with six compa ny members. Thematic
analysis of interview transcripts was then cross-checked and enriched through a group interview with six
other members.
Findings –Two overarching themes emerged: the importance of “being known”within the company
(key sub-themes included “intuitive democracy”and the “paradox of reliability”), and the ways in which
individuals “branched out”from this secure basis into artistic, professional and voluntary roles, while
remaining company members.
Research limitations/implications –The findings from this small-scale study, while not necessarily
generalisable to other long-term communities of care and learning with a “troupe”or “team”structure, would
provide valuable starting points for a larger-scale investigation.
Practical implications –If generalisable, institutions in the mental health and educational worlds should
place more emphasis on developing and resourcing long-term models of support.
Social implications –The specialist theatre company model contrasts with prevalent individualised,
time-limited services for those experiencing mental ill health.
Originality/value –The study provides compelling narrative evidence to amplify understanding of how
“connectedness”is experienced within a troupe, and may enable individuals with mental illnesses to progress
further in their recovery journey.
Keywords Recovery, Individualized care, Arts and health, CHIME model, Recovery colleges,
Specialist theatre companies
Paper type Research paper
Introduction: recovery and connectedness
It is not surprising that the arts are frequently invoked as playing a key role in the recovery
process of individuals who experience mental ill health. To recover –that is, to attain a good
quality of life despite one’s diagnosis –people must, according to Leamy et al. (2011), develop a
sense of connectedness, hope and optimism about the future, identity, meaning in life and
empowerment ( forming the acronym “CHIME”). As Stickley et al. (2018) concluded from their
extensive literature review and qualitative research, all five of these elements of recovery are
evident in participatory arts activities for mental health service users, “especially enhanced
connectedness and increased hope”(p. 6).
Connectedness, or “a sense of belonging”, has long been recognised as a fundamental human
motivation (Baumeister and Leary, 1995), crucial to psychological and physical health.
However, despite the evidence for the importance of a sense of belonging, mental health
provision in the UK o ften does not appea r to value it as a centra l component of recov ery.
Received 18 December 2018
Revised 29 June 2019
10 July 2019
Accepted 10 July 2019
The authors would like to thank
the 12 members of Out Of
Character Theatre Company who
generously gave their time and
expertise to this research.
Catherine Rachel Heinemeyer
and Nick Rowe are both based
at the School of Performance
and Media Production, York St
John University, York, UK.
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VOL. 24 NO. 3 2019, pp. 212-227, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1361-9322 DOI 10.1108/MHRJ-12-2018-0039
The rise of individual therapies, particularly cognitive behavioural therapy, and the insufficiency
of community mental health provision to meet demand, particularly for those with enduring and
complex mental ill health (CQC, 2017), have created a system in which the person takes an
individual journe y towards “recovery”that is their own respons ibility. Harper and Speed (2012)
describe it thus:
The onus for recovery is on the individual, whereby that individual must change their attitudes, values,
feelings, goals, skills and roles, in a deeply personal way, in order to effect change within their own life.
Rather than effecting social change, the marginalised other is required to change their personal
outlook. (p. 12)
This understanding of recovery has two key implications. First, that it is an individual’s
interpretation of their circumstances (which may include marginalisation or injustice), rather than
the circumstances themselves, that leads to distress (Binkley, 2011, 2014; Cromby, 2011).
Second, it tends to valorise rapid and time-limited interventions by mental health services, aimed
at building a person’s resilience in such a way as to enable them to take ongoing, autonomous
responsibility for their recovery (Harper and Speed, 2012).
There may be two reaso ns for the prevailin g emphasis on individ ualised, short- term
approaches. The first is the legacy of massive changes within mental health in many countries in
the 1970s and 1980s, when the psychiatric hospitals closed because it was recognised that
institutionalisation and dependency on mental health services was dehumanising (CQC, 2017).
Ever since governments have been understandably anxious of creating new dependencies and
“asylums in the commun ity”. In order to avoid this, many services are time-limited and people
are envisaged as taking a “recovery journey”that, by implication, h as an endpoint and must be
taken at a certain speed. The second reason for the growth of individualised treatments
perhaps lies in wider cultural and economic changes, summarised by many as “neoliberalism”
and its focus on free ma rkets, restricte d public sector bud gets and the individ ual as a
“consumer”making free choices for themselves (Binkley, 2014). This approach has
undoubtedly bee n empowering for man y of those whose menta l health problems a re
amenable to the int erventions availa ble.
Yet more recently, individualised and short-term approaches to mental health diagnosis and
treatment have been explicitly challenged in the UK by Johnstone et al.’s (2018) Power Threat
Meaning Framework. This interprets mental ill health as an intelligible response to factors
including income inequality, isolation, poverty, poor housing, abusive relationships, prejudice and
social oppression, and posits a lasting change in these factors, both within an individual’s own life
and at societal level, as a key component of recovery.
A similar bifurcation of approaches is equally evident within arts in mental health. At one end of
the spectrum, many arts interventions for those experiencing mental ill health are time-limited
and focussed on achieving individual health outcomes, for example, as courses within a
Recovery College (see e.g. Ebrahim et al., 2018; Cameron et al., 2018). At the other, there exist
specialist theatre companies whose members are predominantly mental health service users,
of which there is a sm all but growing num ber of such companie s in the UK and world wide.
Rather than offeri ng termly courses, s uch companies oper ate as long-term “troupes”,
committed to workin g, performing and developing their art istic and professional skills togethe r
over a period of years.
There is substantial evidence for the beneficial effect of arts projects of varying durations,
ranging from weeks to years, on participants’mental health, including the development
of their social networks (e.g. Cameron et al., 2018; Ebrahim et al., 2018; Ha cking et al., 2008;
Heenan, 2007; Stickley et al., 2018). Hacking et al. (2008) find that p articipation in
the arts widens social networks, and Heenan (2007) that it can provide a catalyst to
reintegration i nto the community. However , a focus on a sense of belonging raises questi ons as
to the long-term sustainability of such effects after the temporary community of a
course is dissolved, as the factors which contributed to many participants’ill health within
their community are likely to remain unaffected. There is a particular shortage of
research into specialist theatre companies, and parallel long-term learning communities
such as specialist sports teams and choirs. For this reason there is a need for investigation
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