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Moving up the Hill of Happiness

19 February 2012 / 0 Comments

Alison Dunne, the Book Doctor at Leicester Libraries, tells us about the Hill of Happiness social read group:

The Hill of Happiness Social Read group first started at New Parks Library as an Everybody's Reading Storycafe. It is based on principles of bibliotherapy - or the 'reading cure' - the proposition that reading can heal and has been funded partly by Whatever ItTakes. Leicester Libraries' Book Doctor, Alison Dunne tells Reading Groups for Everyone more about the group:

The simple aim was to use reading together, aloud to make people feel better. But we needed a way to measure it. The Hill of Happiness was born. A hand drawn tool focusing at the beginning and end of sessions so people could indicate how far up the hill they felt on any day.

Initial introductions for group members were made via the NHS Community Development Coordinator and it was decided that the group should meet weekly in order to build confidence and esteem. The members, to begin with, were diagnosed or self diagnosed sufferers of depression. It was decided that the group should be facilitated by a team and so Leicester writer and psychotherapist, Maxine Linnell, was engaged to run the group with myself. We also had a volunteer, Nicky, join us.

At the beginning of the sessions the group professed an almost unanimous dislike of poetry. They had been put off it at school, or thought it was 'poncey' or too clever or had words in it that they didn't understand. There were real self confidence issues among some members of the group, one having to be collected by car as she was too anxious to use public transport. It was soon apparent that alongside depression the members of the group had many other issues, recent bereavements, physical health problems, isolation & family estrangements to name but a few.

The group's confidence in reading together and aloud has risen along with general esteem and confidence. Some members who pointed out they needed a subterranean extension to the Hill of Happiness they were feeling so low, now routinely point out they are halfway up and staying stable. The group has grown and shrunk and grown again, offered support and advice and made a lot of noise, mainly through great gales of laughter.

The poetry dislikers have progressed, even taking anthologies home to choose things to read at the next session and we have stretched our reading to encompass passages from Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Jayne Eyre and lots of other things, classic and contemporary.

What the group has to say

'I always feel happier than when we walked in. It brings me out of myself.'

'Poems & stories open the conversation up.It's good to be there for other people.'

'The group gets you used to talking to different people and get to know them on more than a superficial level'.

'Magic happens with the poems and stories. They spark off conversations and memories.'

'Sometimes I come and don't feel like telling anyone anything but then feel relaxed - I don't usually tell people anything.'

'It gives you something to look forward to and stops you being a hermit.I like to listen to the stories.'

'It's been a good way of meeting new people and getting out of the house. The stories are a bonus.'

'I didn't like poetry when I started, now I think there are some poems I like, it's finding the right ones.'

'I was never confident to read aloud, it makes me shake, but I've got a lot of confidence from the group and I read out every week.'

'I didn't fancy a book group but Jane dragged me in. It's not like that though. It's about talking about things.'

'I've been surprised we laugh so much.'

'We used to be lower down the Hill of Happiness but now we're about halfway up.That's progress!'

'It gives me something to look forward to. Thursdays wouldn't the same without the group!'

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