Message from Isie

25 Nov

A message from Isie…

For most, Christmas is a time for family. For being surrounded by loved ones and sharing moments that create lifelong memories.

But for Changing Tunes’ participants, (young people and adults in prison – including many who are parents, young people in challenging circumstances, like being in care, and people trying to cope with life after prison) Christmas can be an especially painful time. And all year round, isolation can be a familiar feeling. Changing Tunes uses music to connect with people facing these challenges. We engage participants across the country on a weekly basis, working in Alternative Provision Schools, Secure Children’s Homes, Young Offender Institutions, Prisons and Post-Release, over the long-term.

Having spent the last five years working as a Musician-in-Residence at HMP Eastwood Park women’s prison and with young people at risk, I’ve seen firsthand how deeply ‘ACEs’ - Adverse Childhood Experiences – impact the life-chances of our participants. It’s true that people with four or more ‘ACEs’ are significantly more likely to end up in prison compared to those with less. Examples of ACEs affecting our participants include witnessing or experiencing abuse, growing up with an alcoholic parent, emotional neglect, homelessness, or having a parent or sibling in prison.

Through my time working as a Musician-in-Residence, I’ve also been privileged to regularly witness how transformative music is for our participants. Music-making builds community and a sense of belonging. It allows participants to identify as ‘creatives’, freeing them from destructive stigma. It helps them discover hope for their future. Music offers a non-judgmental space to hold the deepest sadness and vulnerability. It transcends where words cannot reach. It’s therapeutic in its very nature.

One of my favourite Changing Tunes memories was from attending a funeral with one of my participants, who had been allowed out of the prison for the day (accompanied by two prison officers.) It was her mother’s funeral, and together we had written a piece she would read, with me playing the piano in the service. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day. All her family were there, including one of her young children she had not seen for four years. There were a lot of emotions. Witnessing her in ‘mum mode’ was something you don’t get to see in prison. I was so sad for what had happened to them and why she was in prison. I really felt for her having to return to the prison afterwards, having had a glimpse of the connection she desperately wanted.

But I also felt hopeful for their future. This participant had been involved with ‘Tuning In’ - a therapeutic song-writing project that Changing Tunes ran with residents at HMP Eastwood Park who had children on the outside. At the end of the funeral, I was able to give her children CDs of the song she had written for them through the project (all done with the right safeguarding and permissions in place). By being given the chance to make music with Changing Tunes, this participant had been able to reconnect with herself and with her family in a meaningful way.

When I got home, I re-listened to her song. I felt an enormous sense of how important it was for her children to be able to hear what she had written for them. The song is so full of love for them and having seen it with my own eyes it made it so real.

Most people in prison don’t get that opportunity. The need for what we do is undeniable. As is the growing body of evidence that it works. That it matters. That it makes a difference. I hope that the memory I have shared with you here helps to bring that to life and that it inspires you about the difference your support has made.

But it’s the voices of our participants that matter the most when it comes to expressing the value of our work and the human impact of your support. Here’s what participants have recently said about what Changing Tunes means to them:

“It's truly helped me cope through some of my darkest days.”

“Changing Tunes gives me meaning in life. It helps me overcome depression.”

“My work in Changing Tunes has been the biggest part of my rehabilitation.”

And so this Christmas, please keep in your thoughts the children who don’t know or understand where their Mummy or Daddy is, the parent who is making sense of how they have ended up in prison and is figuring out how to be there for their kids, and the young person who has gone through traumatic experiences and finds themselves cut off from family on the outside.

Whilst children and families with relatives in prison might not share the same lifelong memories of presents and roast dinners, your support means we can give them a much more important gift – a family member who can express and regulate their emotions healthily through music.

And for the young people and adults we work with, your support means we can enrich them with the gift of music – as an outlet for all emotions, no matter how devastating, and as a bridge to community.

We are so grateful for your support of Changing Tunes. Demand for our services is growing, and fundraising challenges are more brutal than ever. If you want to do something meaningful this Christmas you can, by donating to our Changing Tunes Christmas Appeal.