Gemma Thorpe is a socially engaged artist specialising in the telling of personal stories with photography, audio and video. She regularly works with people and community groups including the elderly, homeless youth, young refugees and asylum seekers, and Pakistani women. She has published and exhibited her work in the UK, China, and across Europe. www.gemmathorpe.com
Shaun Bloodworth is a gifted and highly experienced professional film-maker and photographer. www.shaunbloodworth.com
Andy Brown is a professional photographer and filmmaker who works for many corporate clients including the University of Sheffield and Museums Sheffield. His non-corporate work entails social realism, and covers a wide range of themes. www.envioustime.co.uk
Dr Shirin Teifouri holds honorary research fellowships at the University of Sheffield and Birkbeck University of London. Her research explores cross-cultural narratives of exile, displacement, ‘statelessness’, and mental health. Shirin is a Trustee of Sheffield Flourish.
Kay Aitch is an artist who specialises in ‘creative observational drawing’ (recording events and people in ‘real-time’). She is experienced in leading creative and narrative workshops with marginalised individuals, and has worked extensively with people with mental health problems, including regularly running creativity events for the the NHS in Sheffield as part of the Recovery Education Programme. She also works regularly with local social enterprises SYARTS and Recovery Enterprises.
Chrissy Bonham has played a key role in developing the eight week Recovery Education Programme for Community Recovery Services at SHSC. This is a short term intervention which supports people who are grappling with mental health issues. Working with Kay Aitch, Chrissy has also developed a 6 week Narratives Masterclass for the University of Sheffield’s Medical School. Chrissy and Kay worked with fourth-year psychiatry students and used Storying techniques to help the students look beyond a mental health diagnosis and see the person behind the label. To read more about Chrissy click here.
Vicky Grant is a medical librarian & a PhD researcher on the Storying Sheffield Knowing as Healing project, which is exploring experiences of chronic illness using storytelling methodologies.
Matthew Colbeck is a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield. His research involves him leading writing workshops with people who have survived coma and live with brain injury. He has published two collections of creative work by writers with disabilities. Matt has worked as a Project Manager on successful initiatives including theLiteracy Exchange and Achievement Programme. Matthew is also a scholar on the New Generations in Medical Humanities Programme at Durham University. www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/arts-and-humanities/graduate-school/pgr-profile/matt-colbeck
Nina Schmidt is a PhD researcher investigating contemporary autobiographical illness writing in the German speaking world. Her research interests lie in auto/biography and life writing (autofiction, diary, autothanatography), disability studies, theories of the body and of trauma, as well as the representation of illness in literature. She also coordinates the project ‘A Dialogic Exploration of Gluten Ataxia’. www.shef.ac.uk/german/staff/ninaschmidt
Zelda Hannay is a performing arts professional with a variety of experience in administration, project management and tour co-ordination. She has worked on small-scale and mid-scale tours, within large and small organisations, and on indoor and outdoor work. Zelda is currently undertaking an AHRC funded practice-based PhD at the University of Sheffield looking at restoration and repair in contemporary performance.
Charlotte Conway is a mental health nurse on an acute admissions psychiatric ward and also works as a Clinical Studies Officer for The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network: Yorkshire and Humber. She has also recently completed an MSc in Clinical Research at The University of Sheffield.
Rosy Nesbitt is a talented photographer specialising in portraiture and social documentary. Her work covers social themes that are frequently ‘unseen’, such as recovery from alcohol addiction. www.rosynesbitt.co.uk
Nathan Gibson is a photographer and film-maker specialising in documentary and music. www.nathangibson.co.uk
In the Nursery are an English neo-classical/martial electronica band, comprised of twin brothers Klive and Nigel Humberstone, and known for their cinematic sound. The duo have provided soundtracks to a variety of TV programmes and films, and are known for their re-scoring of silent films. www.inthenursery.com
Hand Of is a Sheffield-based arts platform dedicated to supporting and enriching local communities, organising accessible and experimental arts events throughout the city. Centring around different medias including film, music, spoken word and dance, our events bring students and locals together in innovative and expressive conditions, manifesting a sense of pride and belonging in Sheffield. handof.co.uk
CAST is a group of mental health service users, volunteers, and workers who are passionate about arts for mental health and wellbeing. They run regular workshops, live music and poetry gatherings and also hold art exhibitions. CAST aim to promote the artwork of service users and to support them in their development as artists and as people. www.castsheffield.org
Anton Want is a photographer whose work is primarily concerned with people, identity and place. He has received international recognition for his photography and exhibited widely, including at the National Portrait Gallery, London. He has undertaken commissions for Time and Newsweek magazines, and was named British Press Photographer of the Year in 1994. A change of direction, following world events post 9/11, led to Anton concentrating on collaborative project based work and artist commissions. Including Evidence (2003), War on Television (2004-8), Ambition (2009) and Pit Profiles: Re-profiled (2011-13). His current photographic practice and writing is inspired by the nature of change in British society.
Adrian Scott is a poet, writer, and photographer. He is fascinated by the literature and poetry of place; his first collection of poetry, The Call of the Unwritten, was published in 2010, and his second, Arriving in Magic, in 2013. www.adriangrscott.com
Sam Smith is a highly experienced oral historian, and helps to co-ordinate the University of Sheffield oral history service in palliative care.
Sam is currently researching for a PhD with a focus on the oral history service.
Bina Hartwell is an art therapist who specialises in working in prisons and the criminal justice system. She has also led art therapy group work with homeless people. Bina is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield; her study is entitled “Can art therapy contribute to rehabilitation by helping offenders understand their histories and interrupt patterns of self-harm?”
Joy Gravestock is an experienced music therapist who specialises in working with adopted children. Joy is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Sheffield; her study is entitled “Exploration of the contribution that music therapy can make to the contemporary process and lived experiences of adoption.”