Adversity is not destiny.
Introducing the project
RESILIENT uses original cinema and visual art to engage vulnerable young people at a critical moment in their lives
RESILIENT is a creative learning platform for young people aged 15 - 18, who are under the care of NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).
It uses purpose-made cinema, photography, documentary film, and visual art to explore themes of adversity, self-worth and the power of human connection - so as to help young people prepare for life after they are discharged from care.
RESILIENT is a collaboration between current and former CAMHS patients and PRU pupils, specialist teachers and clinicians, homelessness researchers, and creative professionals. It was created in conjunction with formative evaluation conducted by the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families' Evidence Based Practice Unit and is evaluated independently on an ongoing basis.
RESILIENT is hosted and led by the homeless and inclusion healthcare charity Pathway (part of the Crisis group of charities).
SAMPLE PROJECT: The Mouse
A quest for love, freedom and survival
The Mouse is a tender love story concealed within a fierce urban thriller. It tells the story of a fugitive boy battling to catch a mouse from the London Underground and give it to the girl he loves.
On his journey the hero, Jakub, confronts trauma, mental illness and homelessness, and these themes are discussed and explored in the learning sessions and creative exercises that interact with the film.
The Mouse was made for RESILIENT by an Oscar-winning team of filmmakers and has screened at film festivals around the world.
The Mouse was made by a team of leading film industry professionals, including Judy Counihan, producer of the two Oscar-winning films No Man’s Land and Antonia’s Line; Walter Donohue, Story Editor of the iconic Paris, Texas and 28 Days Later; and Casting Director Des Hamilton, renowned for his street casting on films such as Morvern Callar, This is England and JoJo Rabbit. Lead actor Finn Bennett went on to star opposite Jodie Foster in True Detective, Night Country.
Context & Purpose
A unique opportunity
As they embark on their early adult lives, young people who have experienced abuse and neglect as children, and developed serious mental illness as teenagers, are at the highest possible risk of falling into crises of isolation, despair, and rough sleeping.
Many of these young people are treated by NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), or educated at Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), for sustained periods of time, as they approach the age of eighteen. RESILIENT has been created to help staff at these services fulfil the unique opportunity they have — to work creatively and generously with these young people, and help them navigate safely through the next phase of their lives.
Pathway is collaborating now with CAMHS services and PRUs in England to support their use of RESILIENT. And we are developing a series of related research and advocacy projects - in partnership with experts by experience, specialist teachers and clinicians, researchers, and creative professionals — to further help NHS CAMHS services and PRUs to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children under their care.
Watching and discussing The Mouse has engaged and stimulated our most hard-to-reach young people.
I think it’s an excellent resource.
Teacher, CAMHS unit, London.
Our funders
We are grateful to these organisations for their support
“A well-considered innovation with the potential to make a lasting contribution to the welfare of young people with mental illness.”
Endorsement for RESILIENT by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
