History of Borderland Voices

Since 1998 Borderland Voices has successfully pioneered arts and mental health activities in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The Staffordshire Moorlands district is situated to the north of the West Midlands region, close to Stoke-on-Trent. The County of Staffordshire is bordered by Cheshire and the Peak District in the north, the West Midlands conurbation to the south, Shropshire to the west and Derbyshire to the east.

In 2002 the group won the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (SMDC) group award for cultural and artistic achievement.

Participants in workshops and other activities include mental health service users, carers, art therapists, social workers and volunteers.

Borderland Voices is presently constituted as an unincorporated not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of mental health through the arts and has recently achieved charity status.

We try to bridge the gap between mental health and mental illness, believing that these are both part of the same continuum of human experience and that finding safe forms for the expression of experience is often the first step in the process of recovery. We believe that involvement in the creative arts within the context of a supportive group can contribute not only individual well- being but also perhaps to the recovery process of a wider society.