Earlier this year, Heatherwood Court’s Activities & Therapies Coordinator, Samantha Edwards, discussed the hospital’s record-result for entries in the Koestler Awards in 2024.
With the winners now announced, Samantha details the creative process for each patient and shares their thoughts on their entries.
What are the Koestler Awards?
The Koestler Awards were created in 1962 for people within the criminal justice system, aiming to inspire creativity and promote rehabilitation through the arts.
The awards provide these individuals with the opportunity to have their works judged and rewarded by experts in the arts, with the goal of combatting stigma, providing positive, engaging, and productive activities, and building confidence and skills that will help them succeed in the community following their time in the criminal justice system.
This year’s entries
Three patients from Heatherwood Court Hospital were selected as winners this year – Margaret, Sarah, and Rebecca*. Utilising a mixture of different mediums, the entries express each patient’s unique perspectives on mental health and their experiences of mental health services and the criminal justice system.
*names changed to protect the identities of the patients.
Margaret’s entries
Life story – From now on
This thought-provoking essay details the challenges that Margaret faced throughout her life to be taken seriously by healthcare professionals as she repeatedly tried to access support for her deteriorating mental health.
Struggling immensely with past trauma, Margaret was self-harming, suicidal, and desperate to find the right support for herself before it was too late. Met with rejection after rejection, Margaret’s mental health had declined so severely that she was a danger to herself, and at times, to others.
Having worked successfully as a healthcare professional herself for many years, Margaret’s explains the barriers and stigma that she faced constantly from other professionals, whose attitude towards her was “You got on with it before. Why can’t you now?”
Margaret said “I felt I was treated differently as a professional in the services, and that the toxic reactions I received from professionals were due to me having been being a midwife. I put a portion of the blame on myself for not asking for help sooner.”
Margaret shared that the core message of this piece is “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover – how I started helping myself.”
Click here to read Margaret’s essay, “From now on.”.
Margaret’s essay details the stigma that she faced from other healthcare professionals as a healthcare professional herself in need of urgent mental health support:
“I felt I was treated differently as a professional in the services, and that the toxic reactions I received from professionals were due to me having been being a midwife. I put a portion of the blame on myself for not asking for help sooner.”
Broken Soul (Watercolour Painting)
Created in her art access sessions at Heatherwood Court, this painting was inspired by Margaret’s mental health journey and the plan of action she laid out for her recovery. Margaret talked us through her painting:
“The top right section is when I was unwell and experiencing flashbacks – it unlocks the dark side of the brain, and stops it from being stable. Right below this is me as a little girl, experiencing the trauma. The broken facial bones are where it all comes from, seeping through the cracks. The section on the bottom right is where I buried all of my trauma feelings and attempted to accomplish life as a wife, a mother, and a midwife; but it did not work.
In the bottom left is where the cracks appeared, and I started to seek help. The few flowers represent when I started to process my trauma. Above this is where the flowers bloom from getting the right help to grow – my good thoughts are increasing, and my mental health is improving. Like my essay, at the top is all of the positive thoughts I use “From now on”.”
Sarah’s entries
Sarah submitted 5 poems this year, 3 of which were selected for awards.
Sarah won the Outstanding Debut Award for her poem “Grow on my own”. The poem is about Sarah’s experiences with self-harm, and the difficult journey she faced to grow, recover, and find herself whilst coping with trauma.
Her second poem – “ These safe walls” – detailed the unique feeling of safety that Sarah felt when she became a patient in a secure hospital setting. The poem contrasted the feelings of uncertainty, unpredictability, and danger that Sarah experienced outside of the hospital with the stability, consistency, and security she feels now as a patient. This exceptional piece was chosen for the Under 25s Special Award.
Sarah also received a Commended Award for “The Shepherd and the Sheep”, which is a powerful poem that explores Sarah’s connection to God and her religion, and the comfort that she is able to draw from this as she faces challenges with her mental health.
When discussing her inspiration for her photography entry, Sarah said:
“I felt inspired to take the photo at the time because I realised that even though I am behind bars, there is a whole other world outside.”.
Rebecca’s entries
Freedom Awaits (Photography)
“Freedom Awaits” is a photographic entry that Rebecca captured during one of her Psychology sessions, and the piece won a Highly Commended Award.
The piece endeavoured to capture Rebecca’s feelings about being in a secure hospital setting, and she submitted this entry without any filters or editing to show people what truly life looks like from her perspective.
Rebecca said “I felt inspired to take the photo at the time because I realised that even though I am behind bars, there is a whole other world outside.”.
Digital Artwork
Rebecca’s next entry was a digital artwork that she created using an iPad, which aimed to express how it feels to be under observation when you are in a mental health setting.
Rebecca said “I feel watched all the time, so this work represents that. I have done digital artwork before, but this was my first serious attempt.”
For Rebecca’s final entry, she wrote her own lyrics which were about her experiences of coping with her mental health and her journey in mental health services. Rebecca said “These song lyrics opened a window to my heart on how I felt at the time. I enjoy writing poetry, but I wanted the entry to be more meaningful, and to try something new.”
Rebecca’s digital artwork was inspired by her experiences of receiving mental health services:
“I feel watched all the time, so this work represents that. I have done digital artwork before, but this was my first serious attempt.”
Arts and Education at Heatherwood Court Hospital
This amazing result at the Koestler Awards follows another major success for the patients earlier in the year, where 8 patients who completed education courses at the hospital in 2024 achieved 15 nationally-recognised qualifications between them, including a number of GCSE-equivalent qualifications.
Providing patients at Heatherwood Court with increased access to Education and the Arts has been a big focus at the hospital this year, and the team aim to continuously expand the creative and educational opportunities that patients are able to explore during their treatment and rehabilitation.
Everyone at Heatherwood Court is incredibly proud of all of this year’s Koestler entrants, and many of the patients that we support have already begun to think about their entries for the 2025 awards.
Samantha Edwards
Activities and Therapies Coordinator at Heatherwood Court Hospital
Located in the countryside close to Cardiff, Heatherwood Court offers accommodation across four single-gender units.
Opened in 2008, Heatherwood Court provides care, treatment and rehabilitation for individuals who meet the following criteria:
- Adults with severe and enduring mental illness requiring a low secure environment
- Male and female mentally disordered offenders requiring a low secure environment
- Women with mental health needs and personality disorders requiring a locked ward
“The few flowers represent when I started to process my trauma. Above this is where the flowers bloom from getting the right help to grow – my good thoughts are increasing, and my mental health is improving.”
