Staffs lecturer and poet, Barry Taylor, on a project to use arts and creativity in the recovery process for addicts

To Dublin and Kilkenny in Independent Study Week week for a meeting of the European partners in Typecast, a collaborative project between the British Ceramics Biennial and Portraits of Recovery, a leader in developing arts and creative initiatives to support the drugs and alcohol recovery process. Ceramic artists and recovery professionals from six EU countries gathered at the offices of the Irish Film Institute, exploring working with clay as a recovery tool – with me as the one writer, helping to find creative ways of recording the connections between working with clay and working with the self. Three days of rich dialogue, exchanged experience, and debate – I came back better informed and inspired by an exciting diversity of voices and approaches, and the buzz of commitment and creative engagement around the room. Fired up (yes, I know …) for the start of the Stoke branch of the project this Friday, when I’ll be joining my two colleagues from MMU to meet local participants for the first time at the Bright Futures project here in Stoke. Good to be working again with designer/maker Joe Hartley, renewing our partnership on the Typecast pilot project here in Stoke eighteen months ago, and joined for Typecast 2 by artist Helen Felcey. Updates to follow as the project develops …