Mental health patients are increasingly being encourged to channel their pent-up emotions into poetry and painting. Health Correspondent Barry Nelson reports.

STEVE Urwin started writing poetry out of a sense of isolation. "I have to express myself in some sort of creative way, in my case that happens to be writing poetry," he says.

Steve, 32, from Moorside, near Consett, County Durham, is just one of a host of former and current patients who have contributed to a new anthology of poetry published, unusually, by a North-East mental health trust. It will be launched next Thursday, on World Mental Health Day. The County Durham and Darlington Priority Services Trust has also produced a calendar, illustrated by service users.

Steve was already an enthusiastic poet before he was taken seriously ill in 1998, but his illness - "a hypermanic episode" - put his life and work on hold.

"I had an inkling that something was wrong through my early 20s but I kept putting off going to the doctors about it," says Steve, who also feared the possible effect on his creative writing of powerful medication.

He had a couple of scares during his mid-20s but, again, preferred not to make a fuss.

Then disaster struck. "I went completely off the rails in January that year and ended up at the Derwent Clinic at Shotley Bridge Hospital," he recalls. "At first I really couldn't read anything - my attention span was very short. It was really quite a blow."

He was helped back on the road to recovery by a combination of medication and by being referred for counselling and therapy, which included writing poetry.

Steve has blossomed since he joined creative poetry writing sessions, overseen by consultant psychiatrist Dr Elaine Anderson. "She was the one to get me writing again," he says. And he's not alone. Most patients who attend the Derwent Clinic are invited to use poetry as a way of dealing with strong emotions, images or feelings.

Many of Steve's poems are about childhood memories, but some have the unmistakable imprint of a mind troubled by mental health problems.

"I keep a journal and write in it every day. I reckon I've got a backlog of about five years of material," says Steve, who recently did some voluntary work for a local theatre group. "My feelings have mellowed quite a lot since I was taken ill. Some of that is probably down to medication."

Apart from a strong autobiographical element, Steve also borrows from his vivid dreams and what he describes as "altered mental states" he has experienced.

Since his illness he has gone from strength to strength creatively. In February last year his first collection of poems, Tightrope Walker, was published by Redbeck of Bradford. "Its like origami. The pages are made of parchment and they fold out," says Steve.

It has mostly sold in the UK, but has also attracted some interest from America. "I had a letter from New York from someone who wanted to buy my book. It's nice to acknowledged, to feel that you have something to say."

Steve is enthusiastic about the poetry anthology and believes that creative work can help people come to terms with their mental health problems.

"I certainly think creativity helps you to express things. It's a healthy way to get thoughts and feelings out in the open. Once they are on paper, it's easier to deal with," he says. He is also impressed at the increasing use of painting as a way of helping patients release pent-up feelings.

Occupational therapist Paul Meylan, who is based at the soon-to-be-replaced Pierrmont Unit in the grounds of Darlington Memorial Hospital, is in charge of painting classes. It is his former "pupils" who have contributed an impressive mixture of landscapes, seascapes and abstract images to the new calender.

Mary Duffy, a former patient who has used her experiences to campaign for improved mental health services through the charity Mind, is very impressed by the trust's initiative.

"Drawing a picture or writing poetry can be a release for feelings you have when you have a mental health problem which you might otherwise find difficult to express," says Mary, of Pelton Fell, who has chaired the Chester-le-Street branch of Mind for the last four years. "I think what the trust is trying to do is very good."

Harry Cronin, director of mental health, learning disabilities and nursing at the Durham-based Priority trust, says art and poetry therapy are important for two main reasons. "We do it for therapeutic reasons, so people are able to use their imagination and skills in a creative way which will release some lateral thinking," he says. "It also shows the public that there a lot of talented people out there who use mental health services. These people have been typecast in the past, but this shows them in a new light."

No-one is claiming the trust has a monopoly on using creative therapy with patients. It has been around for many years, as Harry acknowledges. But to mark World Mental Health Day it seemed appropriate to gather together a representative cross-section of the poetry and artwork produced by service users.

While therapy can help patients recover from episodes of severe mental illness, Harry is acutely aware of the poor image of mental health services in recent years. "It has been a chequered history, looking back over the last 30 years. There have been expectations which have not been realised."

Great hopes were attached to new drugs and great store was put on providing "care in the community" but a combination of factors, including under-resourcing and lack of infrastructure, led to much disappointment.

Harry is more upbeat about the immediate future. Following the publication of the National Service Framework for mental health services, resources are finally flowing into the sector.

"Over the next two or three years, we are going to see a vast improvement in County Durham and Darlington. We are building a new hospital at West Park to replace the Pierrmont Unit, which will have single rooms with en-suite facilities," he says. "We will improve the environment for patients and put in place better community infrastructure, providing access to services 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Another important change has been the increasing influence of carers and service users, who now sit on strategy groups which can comment on the development of new service. "Carers and user groups are far more involved than every before," says Harry.

NOT before time, according to Mary, who reckons there is room for improvement in around 30 per cent of staff who work in mental health. "I would say services are improving and about 70 per cent of staff are good," she says.

Her particular concern is the lack of attention for patients who may be introverted. "It's quite easy for someone who is poorly to sit in the corner for hours. It is the quiet ones who need the most help," she says.

The poetry anthology and calendar will be launched at Earl's House Hospital in Durham City next Thursday.

For more information about the anthology Our Thoughts and Expressions or the trust calendar, contact Lucia Charnock on 0191 333 3386.