STAA is a charity providing creative activities
• for older people with mental health problems
• for people with dementia
• and their carers
• living in Sandwell

STAA offers a range of creative activities introducing new hobbies or reviving old interests to enhance the well being and enrich the quality of life for older people with mental health needs and their carers. STAA promotes the use of the arts as a therapeutic tool for healing.

STAA’s individual service: Sessions take place on a one to one basis with the person and one of STAA’s artists working together. Sessions are personalised: activities are designed around the interests and needs of the person. STAA’s artists visit a person in their home.

STAA provides themed creative sessions for small groups at day centres, hospitals and in residential homes.

STAA holds events and exhibitions to positively promote the creativity and achievements of older people with mental health needs.

STAA is a winner of a NIMHE (National Institute of Mental Health in England) ‘Positive Practice Award’ for its work in Older People’s Mental Health in 2005.

All the artwork on STAA’s website has been made by older people with mental health needs.

STAA’s new DVD: ‘Fountain's Jolly Inn’

This film is about the making of a pub themed area inside a residential home for older people with mental health needs. It was made by Paul Nocher. The DVD shows how a little imagination can go a long way in creating an interesting and stimulating environment in a residential home and how the transformation of a space can enrich the lives of the people who live in it.

Click here to watch/download the dvd