by Youth Lead, Georgia Blue Ireland
OutPost Arts is built with many instrumental cogs, each helping the other to tick over and be the organisation that we are. We have our core team, our associate artists, our participants, our partners & funders, but as it’s volunteer week, I’d like to take the time to praise and thank OutPost Art’s volunteers, in particular, our Peer Mentors, without who, our creative communities would not be complete.
Our Peer Mentors first take part in Creative Toolbox and Art Journal Project as participants and have the option to stay on to support the cohort/s after them. They understand what it’s like to first walk through our doors as it can be a very daunting thing to take that first step, meet new peers and open up by sharing their creativity with a new group. They’ve gone through the journey and because of this can provide a different perspective than what the group leads can.
They spend around a year engaging in our sessions and so I get so see their growth on a personal level. Watching them transition into Peer Mentors appears such a natural thing, but I know the work that has been undertaken for them to reach this moment. They each have had their own obstacles to overcome, yet their new journey into Peer Mentors is faced with bravery and a commitment to give back to the Creative Toolbox (and Art Journal Project) community.
I witness first-hand how our peer mentors gently offer support and encouragement during our workshops and in our youth chat, creating a warm, kind and open environment for the group to engage in. Creating art can be a vulnerable thing, you access something within you which is expressed in visual form. Sharing art can be even more vulnerable. It’s a ‘hidden’ part of you and sharing it out to the world is an invitation for critique and comparison, because that’s sadly the world we live in. Yet, when participants have the courage to share their work, our Peer Mentors offer positive judgement-free reflections which creates a ripple effect amongst the other participants. They see the good in the other, building confidence in their work and self, creating a resilient and uplifting community.
Of course, no Peer Mentor looks the same. Their strengths offer something different, be that by offering feedback on our workshops and giving new ideas for future ones, offering their time and being present at workshops, helping to hand out materials and tidy up, or by keeping up to date in our youth chat, sharing tips and praising others. Each role they take up is vital to the development of our projects.
I really appreciate the company of Peer Mentors at workshops. While I’m always there to still provide support for them if they need it, their support to me offers far more than just help on the day. They pick up the tasks I can’t do if I’m supporting a participant,checking in on me and my wellbeing. They’re familiar faces that I can trust and have camaraderie with. They’re just all-round awesome beings who I truly admire and respect. Thank you, Peer Mentors, for everything that you do – you make Creative Toolbox the group that it is.
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