Poole’s Dolphin Centre shopping mall welcomed with open arms a group of Health and Social Care academics from Bournemouth University for a morning as part of BU’s recent Festival of Learning.The Bournemouth University Festival involved 150+ events over aweek and included: debates, demonstrations, and talks to engage and involve the local community.
Asked to explain the project at the Dolphin Centre, one of the organisers said, “We’ve called it lots of things: ‘How are you?’ ‘Thoughts about care’, ‘Tell us what you think about Health & Social care, humanisation, the HSC ‘Selfie’ Project …’
The ‘HSC Masked Selfie Project’ stuck in the end”.
Caption: Dolphin Centre contributes shop front for a morning to BU’s Festival of Learning
The activity consisted of six caring academics interacting with the public in a fun and human way for a few hours. Shoppers in the mall, struck by curiosity, entered the shop of mysteries and masks and were asked, “How are you?”This was followed up with chatting about they felt, identifying three words to describe their feelings and an invitation to complete a post-it note story about their health.As we talked more with them, we asked them how they felt about care generally and their experiences of it. They were then invited to choose a mask that reflected their mood.
Finally, team members asked if the shopper would like them to take a ‘selfie’ of them in their chosen mask.
Caption: Three shoppers take Selfies in masks at Dolphin Centre event
Kip Jones
