Keep up to date with our projects and hear stories, experiences and the odd pearl of wisdom from us and the Root Experience community.
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There are days where I don’t want to be seen. On these days I find people frightening. They have the power to lie, hurt, harm, abandon, to kill and be killed, to die.
I believe that, in spite of needing help for various reasons, learning disabilities and mental health problems should not be seen as a hindrance. They give us traits that can be utilised.
You feel like giving up. Because it will not go away. A lifetime of illness that's what they say.
I didn’t know what to do, I was in so much emotional pain that I didn’t want to go on living but at the same time I was too afraid to die.
Outwardly people know me as cheerful and sociable, but there is this other side which up till now I have carefully kept hidden.
"It was scary not understanding what was wrong and having little hope. It took years of fighting to be heard and many doctors visits. Fighting is hard when you feel ill. But I know I am not alone.
Three years ago, I learned the hard way that blood clots aren’t just a plot device. What started out as a fractured ankle resulted in heart and lung damage, and a very very long recovery time.
People may not understand how invisible illnesses disrupt our everyday lives precisely because they're hidden. Root Experience trustee Tilly Baker tells us how an untimely bout of her condition created a new understanding with her work colleagues.
Our artistic director Simon explores his recent experience of back and hip pain while working on the charity’s project about invisible conditions. He asks whether the medical treatment we receive really gets to the root of the problem...
Do people with hidden disabilities hear differently to others? Composer and sound designer Dougie Evans explores the power of sound through sensitive ears.
You can’t truly understand the scale of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) unless you've experienced it – unless you've been there, done it, and checked multiple times that you do in fact have the T shirt.
I know when I come up against stigma, it’s not because I am not smart or funny or engaging. It’s because people don’t understand dyslexia. They don’t know how limiting it can be and don’t appreciate how a simple change in a process can mean all the difference to me...
And the challenges of truly & honestly reflecting participant’s creativity within the confines of an arts council funded project...
I met Simon and Jess through my work at the Brighton Fringe. Their positivity and enthusiasm is infectious. They’re passionate about what they do, and the value and difference it can make to people’s real lives. I strongly believe in equality of opportunity, and that the arts can change lives in small, day to day ways as well as huge...
Interactive theatre doesn’t just help keep kids positively engaged for a few hours – it opens the door to a lifetime of curiosity and learning.
Something magical happened at our Project: Oggbots show for families this autumn half term. And we’re not talking about alien spaceships...
We must challenge our own ideas before inviting others to do so. Theatre practitioner and events producer Jolie Booth encounters a mind-broadening first Brexhut workshop.
Brexhut collaborator Rachel Shorer reports on how the 'project of perspectives' is beginning to take shape.
Hi there, Rachel here. I saw Simon's original blog post in the wake of Brexit when a friend shared it on my Facebook. My timeline was filled with disagreement, upset and name calling...
Shortly after the referendum I wrote a blog post about the division that was appearing across the country and proposed a project to address this.
The idea was Brexhut, a tourable conversation space for people of different opinions to sit together and find out what they have in common...
I’m feeling really upset and hurt by the division that appears to be pulling around my social media and media feed at the moment.
The fear that it is feeding amongst many people who voted one way or the other has the potential to descend into a bottomless panic that will lead to...
Jessica and Simon pull together some ideas to help anyone who runs group workshops...
Hot prickles of adrenaline. Burning cheeks. Time standing still. These were all very familiar feelings during my first year of facilitating workshops. I plunged in at the deep end and...
Sometimes you need to escape.
You need to grab hold of a chance to spread your creative wings and learn from the unexpected. This is why in August we're returning to the beautiful island of Zanzibar to run our summer residential course – Facilitate Without Fear...
Our Artistic Director, Simon Magnus, reflects on the end of and era and a new beginning.
For the last 13 years Root Experience has been my passion; a fundamental part of who I am. It was the place I found…