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Clinical Director of Breathe Therapies to Judge at this year’s R.S.P.H Awards
Shelley Perry, founder and Clinical Director of Breathe Therapies, a Preston-based not-for-profit clinic, specialising in treatment and therapy for eating disorders, mental health, obesity and wellbeing, has been selected as a Judge on the panel of the 2022 Royal Society for Public Health awards. Breathe Therapies, last year, won a prestigious RSPH accolade for an innovative programme designed and put into effective clinical practice by Shelley and her team.
In 2021, Breathe Therapies won the ‘Healthier Lifestyles’ award, a prize given in national acknowledgement of the project most effectively working to support those who are vulnerable, and aid them in making lifestyle changes which will most benefit their health and wellbeing. Breathe’s ‘Footsteps’ Eating Disorder Recovery Programme was selected for its accessibility and comprehensive support of those in the grip of the cruel and potentially fatal conditions of an eating disorder – by combining the technology of an App, with the personal expertise and understanding of an Eating Disorder Coach and Specialist Dieticians, who offer therapeutic support to the user both online and in a number of face-to-face sessions. The Footsteps programme has made all the difference to numerous clients, especially those in their teens, who are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders, and have found it an invaluable tool and guide to use on their recovery journey.
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Now Shelley is looking forward to the opportunity to look carefully into all the other admirable work going on in the field of public health. Being a judge is not only an exercise in critical acumen, but a chance to encourage the hard work of others, and praise the most deserving of businesses, charities, and individuals, who put their skill and energy into helping those in the wider community to be healthy and live well, despite adversity.
Judging at the Royal Society for Public Health awards 2022 involves in-depth examination of nominated projects, and interviewing those involved in them, for seven distinct categories, which reflect the wide arena in which health and wellbeing may be significantly affected, influenced, and improved. These range from ‘Arts and Health’ to ‘Health and Wellbeing in Workplaces’ and focus in on ‘Health Equity’ and ‘Mental Health’, among the rest.
Shelley has the open mindset and wider interests ideally suited to analysing and appreciating such a broad field. Coming from a Nursing family and having trained as a Mental Health Nurse herself, she founded Breathe Therapies with a personcentric focus, realising that mentalhealth can only be thoroughly understood or reinforced by addressing also the bio-psycho-social context in which it develops. As individuals’ needs vary widely, so will their response to different kinds of therapy. Breathe has gathered a team of experts able to offer interventions such as Art Psychotherapy, Dance and Movement Psychotherapy, Psychosexual Therapy, and Highly Specialized Dietetics, alongside more standard approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR).
Shelley is interested to see what has been taking place during such a difficult period, when public health, both physical and mental, has undergone an unusual strain. Breathe heard from a large number of enquirers whose mental health had been aggravated by the effects of Covid and lockdown. Of these, many accessed their help, and others needed signposting to services such as the NHS, charities and other non-profits.
Pictured: Shelley Perry
Founder and Clinical Director of Breathe Therapies
She is also intrigued to glimpse possible developments in the field. Breathe Therapies is now venturing further into the future than ever before. During lockdown, they were forced to transfer many therapy sessions from in-clinic to online, and discovered the advantage of
being able to treat people in their own homes even if they lived at a great distance. Now, they are in the forefront of Virtual Reality Therapy for phobias, being one of the only therapy clinics in the UK to offer this mode of treatment – which studies show increases the effectiveness of therapy by up thirty percent when offered in combination with a more traditional approach such as CBT or EMDR.
The final judging and awards event for RSPH awards will take place in October 2022. Awards are presented during an evening of splendid entertainment and uplifting recognition in London, where Shelley will take her place among the panellists, and then on the dance floor! After last year’s evening of surprise and celebration, she is looking forward eagerly to meeting the finalists and celebrating all the good work being done in the area of Public Health, Mental Health and Wellbeing.
By Louise Bryning & Paul Cusimano
As we gently transition into Autumn, it’s easy to forget that the darker evenings bring different opportunities and things to look forward to.
Lancaster has not only enjoyed a truly wonderful Summer of events, but also of visitors. In my forty years of working in the City, I have never seen it so busy, looking so good and nor have I experienced the buzz that has almost been palpable, over the past twelve months.
The month of October in Lancaster means ‘Lancaster Music Festival’, and after the clocks have changed and the nights have really drawn in further, November sees the spectacular ‘Light Up Lancaster’. ‘Lancaster on Ice’, complete with the big wheel, opens at the end of the month and will run through the entire festive period until early January ‘23. ‘Lancaster Music Festival’ (13th-16th October)
At its inception, this event was a fraction of its current size and in order to grow, it needed funding. A decision was made not to continue with it. I was Chair of Lancaster Business Improvement District (‘LBID’) at the time. We held meetings with the organisers that resulted in financial sponsorship being offered. We saw massive potential in the Event and it has grown exponentially.
Lancaster Music Festival ‘22 will be one of the country’s largest urban music festivals and is expected to attract more than sixty thousand people over the four days. There will be 550 performances by more than 350 acts covering all musical tastes, from classical to heavy rock and punk.
Lancaster On Ice
Stuart Marshall, Festival Director, said: “Lancaster Music Festival is all about showcasing what goes on in Lancaster all year round whilst also bringing a diverse mix of regional, national and international acts to play in the city’s venues. It’s very different from other music festivals as it’s all about the place and bringing together a diverse cross-section of the community.”
Lancaster Music Festival
Most of the City centre pubs will have a programme of live acts performing along with a number of cafes and shops (see map below). There will again be acts performing in the beautiful Squares and streets, as well as at Lancaster Priory and inside the mighty walls of Lancaster Castle.
Lancaster Music Festival
Judges’ Lodgings museum; Lancaster Folk Club at the Collegian Club; Tite and Locke, the new bar at Lancaster Railway Station; and a floating stage on Ram, a maintenance boat on Lancaster Canal.
The Sugarhouse, Lancaster University’s city centre event venue, will host a main stage with ticketed events featuring top 10 album chart act, ‘The Lottery Winners’ and other headliners are due to be announced (at the time of writing).
Among the specially themed events will be recreations of what ‘Lancaster Music Festival’ might have looked and sounded like 200 years ago in 1822 and in 1942, during World War Two, to tie in with Lancaster City Museum’s ‘Hinge of Fate’ exhibition which opened in September.
In-line with the majority of Lancaster’s Events, inclusivity for all, is key. This year, Lancaster Music Festival has worked to increasing female representation. More Music will run a Girls Can workshop, question & answer panel and performances.
BBC Folk Singer of the Year, Ríoghnach Connolly, will perform in one of the City centre shops, and will create a Sanctuary Singers group from refugees and asylum seekers, some of who will visit Dallas Road Primary School which is hosting its own mini-festival. Some 80% of the acts will be from Lancaster district in this city-wide celebration of the area’s musicians and venues. But continuing the festival’s international flavour, will be the ‘Songs From Home’ programme – sounds from across the world - piano concerts performed at Lancaster Priory; Brazilian carnival sounds in Dalton Square; East Meets West performances at The Storey and the Craic Inn mobile stage will fill Sun Square with Celtic sounds.
Lancaster Music Festival
Everyone can join in with participation events including dancing, drumming and singing workshops and there’s even a Tuneless Choir for those who think they’re not musical. The full festival line-up has been announced and is available at the website (lancastermusicfestival. com)
Lancaster Music Festival is run by a not-for-profit community organisation, with more than 95% of the Event free to attend, with only the headline stage and some other events being ticketed or pay as you feel. Tickets and passes for all other festival events are available via the festival website.
Private sector funding was required to attract significant match funding from the likes of the Arts Council England and Lancaster City Council, to get this project off the ground. This wonderful Event received the thumbs up again by LBID, the second commitment to long-term initiatives during LBID’s very first year.
It’s now a decade since the pilot event celebrating light and art first lit up Lancaster, this two-day free November festival continues to produce thrilling entertainment and is a dazzling, and free to attend, spectacle. It’s an Event for everyone, young and old and again, that shows off the City’s predominate Georgian architecture.
In 2012, Light Up Lancaster began life as an after-dark light art trail to build up excitement the night before the firework display near Lancaster Castle has since developed into a two-day festival of art and light.
The theme of this year’s Event is Turning Points, which gives artists, audiences and participants opportunities to reflect on times in life when things could go one way or another, when changes happen. Lancaster’s own digital daredevils, imitating the dog, will, once again, take over the Castle courtyard to present striking projections combining film, animation and original music to explore the turning points in all our lives.
And for the first time in Light Up Lancaster’s history, it will host a Light Art Jam at Kanteena. Eclectika will incorporate projection, virtual reality, digital wizardry and electronica in an immersive, evolving experience. Another new venue for the festival this year as is St John’s Church which will host Butterflies, consisting of hundreds of handmade butterflies which appear glass-like by day, and by night, transform under ultra violet light.
These are just a few of the many Light Up Lancaster attractions which take place this year at various City centre locations including the Priory, the Judges’ Lodgings, St Nicholas Arcades and The Storey. Outdoor venues featured will be Market, Dalton and Sun Squares, the Storey Gardens and Upper Church Street/ Castle Hill. All events are within walking distance of each other and are completely free.
Weather permitting, the spectacular fireworks finale, which happens to land on Bonfire Night this year, will be launched near Lancaster Castle on the Saturday. Wristbands are required for the fireworks official viewing areas at Giant Axe and Quay Meadow, available from their website (lightuplancaster.co.uk), but the display can be enjoyed from various vantage points across the City.
Councillor Sandra Thornberry, cabinet member for Arts and Culture said: “The event promises two days of amazing light art and plenty of opportunities for people to get involved in the hands-on activities and interactive installations. “We look forward once again to welcoming artists from the UK and abroad to bring their artworks and installations to the festival”.
Light Up Lancaster has achieved nationwide recognition and has become established as a must see event in the north of England’s event calendar. To end where I started, for some things, the darkness adds to the occasion, but it doesn’t hide the look of joy on the faces of the attendees.
*All Light Up Lancaster images courtesy of Light Up Lancaster.
