BLOCK THEATRE AS A TOOL IN YOUTH PSYCHIATRIC CARE
2018
KO-KOO-MO ry, together with the youth psychiatric care units of Satakunta healthcare district, carried out a joint project titled Block Theatre as a Tool in Youth Psychiatric Care. The project received support from Arts Promotion Centre Finland. Over the fall of 2018 puppeteer Roosa Halme carried out Block Theatre performances and workshops with youth, in small groups and as a process.
In block theatre, imagination, with the help of blocks made of different types of wood, guides the spectator to a range of different worlds. In block theatre workshops the blocks are seen as neutral objects that, depending on their position and combinations, create different associations. The participants are given tasks to create different characters, constructions, and landscapes out of the blocks, related or unrelated to their personal lives.
KO-KOO-MO concept has a surprising ability to adapt. It has been applied to activities related to senior citizens, people with disabilities, psychiatry and well-being at work, group and peer activities, and special education. KO-KOO-MO concept is especially well-suited for supporting cognitive abilities and as a tool for understanding emotions and feelings, and it can offer a path to communication when there is no spoken language at hand.
In the project, artist and care-giver work as a team. The artist can bring new perspectives to the care staff’s work and by association, to every-day life of the youth as well. A care- giver who knows the youth, on the other hand, can deepen the artist’s professional experience. Block theatre, like experiencing art in general, can make you realize something about yourself or your situation in life.
The process was also captured as an exhibition to the exhibition space of Eura library.
