Zest: A Unique Boost to Wellbeing
Here, we take a look at how attending has a positive impact on the wellbeing of all participants.
image credit: Jen HollandZest Groups for people living with dementia and our supporters have been consistently running on a weekly basis in four localities in Kent since 2019. Here, we take a look at how attending has a positive impact on the wellbeing of all participants.
Bright Shadow regularly asks participants ‘How Do You Feel?’ inviting members of all groups to choose a category that best fits their mood at the start, and again at the end, of a session.
This large dataset covers July 2019 – January 2024, and includes the period of online delivery as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What’s changed?
As you can see, responses at the end of sessions show a marked increase in mood. The responses at the end of sessions show a substantive change; the data shows a 36.4% increase in wellbeing, and vitally, no respondent feels awful after a session, showing how effective Zest sessions are in terms of uplifting wellbeing.
9 in 10 participants feel ‘good’ or ‘great’ after Zest sessions.
This is based on a total of 1,686 responses between July 2019 and January 2024.
We know how hard it can be for people living with dementia and our loved ones to feel that our wellbeing is supported, and we see in this data that our Zest creative sessions have a significant part to play in this vital preventative health and wellbeing work.
How Zest Supports the Five Ways to Wellbeing
New Economics Foundation established the Five Ways to Wellbeing indicators, subsequently adopted by the NHS as things we can all do to help improve our health and wellbeing.
In looking back at the feedback over the timeframe of this dataset, it’s really encouraging to see the value Zest holds in helping to support our wellbeing.
The First Way to Wellbeing is to Connect with other People. We know that time together is important; what we’ve heard is that the impact of this is felt from early beginnings of taking part in Zest:
“This is our third week at Zest and I have been amazed what a difference it has made to J. He is so upbeat when we get home and talks about what we have done, as much as he can remember. I am so glad that we found the group”.
But that also, attending over a longer period of time deepens those connections and the impact those connections has:
“We have attended the Zest sessions run by Bright Shadow for over 5 years. It has been a much needed couple of hours where carers and their partners can enjoy the company of the team and artists followed by a cup of tea and a social and forget the days stresses which caring entails. There are very few opportunities for carers to have relaxation and Zest has cleverly combined a way to entertain and socialise its participants.”
The Second Way to Wellbeing is to Be Physically Active. All of our Zest sessions start with a gentle way of getting moving, typically a seated warm-up in a circle. The content of sessions varies from visual arts activities, to dancing, to having a go on aerial yoga equipment and many other creative experiences. People work within their own range of movement and don’t do anything that causes pain but we are challenging the notion that older people and people with dementia are by nature immobile.
The very act of getting out of the house and coming to Zest has its own benefits, too:
“It has made a huge difference to Mum, that provides an incentive to get her up and out of the house.”
The Third Way to Wellbeing is to Take Notice, which is about mindfulness – being conscious of our thoughts, feelings, body and the world in the present moment, something central to the Zest method.
The variety of professional artists who come along to Zest means that a wide range of interests are piqued, and everyone in the creative space can enjoy trying something new, and being in the here and now.
“I am so impressed by all these lovely items available to us to make all these beautiful things. A lot of thought has gone into creating such a lovely activity.”
The Fourth Way to Wellbeing is to Learn New Skills. By having opportunities to try a wide range of appropriately challenging creative activities at Zest sessions, we come away feeling empowered, and equipped with new ‘Everyday Creativity’ skills, such as improvisation, song-writing, devising choreography and smartphone photography.
Many Zest participants aren’t regular arts attenders and haven’t had a lifetime of opportunity to try creative activities. For some it’s the first time being creative since school days, which is why the safe environment is so vital for everyone to feel able to learn.
“You do so many things that you don’t think you can do until you get there.”
“This is so different from anything we have tried before. We have really enjoyed what we have done today.”
Supporters also learn skills for caring, including improvisation techniques and, through positive modelling, concepts of disability equality.
The Fifth Way to Wellbeing is to Give. We know that coming along to Zest Groups boosts feelings of belonging to a community, because everyone supports each other. No expectation is placed on participants, but the safe, happy, and welcoming environment leads to mutually supportive gestures of kindness and long-term friendships. Within our Zest sessions, activities that include an element of giving are often planned, such as Zest Groups writing letters to each other and giving one another beautifully-wrapped hopeful wishes for the future at Christmas-time.
“Zest sessions are incredibly thoughtful and cater to everyone in the room and raise people up to contribute in any way they can. I am so pleased that these sessions exist.”
You can read more about how Zest impacts everyone who comes along, and the artists who deliver sessions on our Impact page.