Our thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund who have supported our work. It has only been thanks to the Lottery that we have been able to offer workshops and resources free to vulnerable groups in support of community and well-being. These projects have been greatly appreciated by our local communities during challenging times and we hope we can make more projects happen again in future.
Our thanks to talented designer, Matthew Murphy, who created this uplifting design.
We can origami: 2021-22
Our thanks to the Lottery for our last community project in 2021/22 when we were beginning to come out of the pandemic. This project allowed us to work with community groups in the Merseyside and Oxfordshire. Our focus was on young people and their families as the pandemic put much strain on mental health.
We helped bring happy moments across the generations in groups in libraries, schools with after school clubs and online. We worked with families in our communities and people living with long-term pain conditions, with doctors and their families and volunteers supporting refugees. We collaborated with volunteers in Japan, with students supporting human rights and offered regular monthly sessions for people of all ages. We worked with over 2,000 people and our films on YouTube encouraging time for well-being have been watched by over 29,000. We celebrated those individual stories and how time together brought connection and moments that will always be treasured.
“thank you for the monthly origami folding sessions you do – I love watching them. Recently my mum was ill in hospital with cancer and after making the lily in the September fold I took mine in to show her and she loved looking at it. Unfortunately she passed away 2 days later so as a tribute to her I ended up making 30 lilies in galaxy themed paper for her wake. I loved making them and I even had to give a live demonstration as to how they were made. So your session really had a far reaching impact.”
We share some a few photographs and our final report below which can be downloaded as a PDF. While the Lottery funded us to create a few thousand ‘Origami Positive’ leaflets we brought this up to 25,000 with many going to hospitals to express care and bring inspiration. Take a look under resources for the leaflet which can be downloaded.
Origami for Community: 2020-21
Encouraging time for well-being through creative activity is needed more than ever in the wake of the global transmission of COVID-19. With our greatest thanks to the National Lottery with a Community Grant we were so very excited about ‘Made with gLove: Origami for community’ which took place in 2020.
We did so much over the course of a year starting in April 2020. The project title came from us thinking about others with care using gloves to handle materials. Lizzie wrote an article on our work using origami for self-care in the British Medical Journal.
25,000 Inspiration Leaflets
We were very excited about working with designer Matthew Murphy to create uplifting colourful leaflets to encourage folding for well-being. This 8-page leaflet contains diagrams for simple but interesting traditional folds linked to videos to help further. We included a budget for 5,000 but with an overwhelming response and through collaboration from so many hospital charities our print run became 25,000 with leaflets going to 12 Trusts. We include below a pdf of the leaflet with 5 folds for anyone to print out and use.
Who are they for?
Leaflets are being offered to groups in local communities around the Merseyside and Oxford including those with mental health problems and the homeless. We also wanted to offer leaflets to staff in hospitals to encourage self-care; caring for our carers who have given so much in this time. With amazing support and contribution from Hospital Charities these leaflets have been sent to hospitals including Oxford, the Merseyside, London (UCH and Imperial), Cambridge, Derby, York, Coventry and Bristol. Leaflets are being given to staff by volunteers with gLove.
Community workshops
We have collaborated with organisations and charities offering free online workshops to bring people together, particularly for those in isolation to share a moment in folding. In collaboration with the Oxfordshire County Library we offered a monthly origami fold for all ages which would ‘sell out’ with 140 tickets. We also offered individual sessions for vulnerable groups including those suffering from bereavement, with long-term mental and physical health conditions and families who have adopted children. We are experienced in Zoom and work with others to run groups to bring joyful connecting time. Our sessions can help start a new hobby that can continue for a life-time.
“thank you so much to Dr Lizzie for all of your time & tuition in Origami during COVID, forever grateful xxx”
“fun, absorbing, want to do more”
“very pleased I came – thank you!”
“calm. happy, together”
One-off sessions to inspire!
We offered free one-off sessions for groups who could benefit from discovering the gentle art of origami for well-being. Groups in this project included key workers with nurses, GPs and teachers, as well as families effected by blood disorders, children during half-term, parents who have adopted and University students in isolation. We reached out to those who could benefit and welcome anyone getting in touch to organise a session. This has all been made possible through a Community Fund from the National Lottery.
Bringing connection
We are so proud as to what has unfolded with this project to help people during the pandemic
Our work included working regularly with nurses who look after patients; bringing care to those caring for others. Even behind those masks we can see the smiles from sessions.
“great way to de-stress after a busy morning”, “was really in need for this”, “brought a smile to my face”
Get folding…
Continue to join our fold through films. On Youtube Dr Lizzie Burns. There’s a large selection of films from beautiful patterns including stars, animals and flowers to try out. No special paper needed, and Lizzie shows you each time how to fold a square from whatever paper is available. We have also set up Facebook group: ‘Join the fold: Origami to beat the boredom‘ for people to encourage each other.
We would love to see your creations. Do share on social media: #Origamilove Twitter @DrLizzieBurns or @Origamipulse or Instagram @drlizzieburns
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who is supporting us and making this possible, with primary support from the National Lottery. If you’d like to read more about this project here is our report:
Many thanks also to the Community Foundation for Merseyside as we were able to print more Made with gLove leaflets and provide more support in Sefton.
Community Fund Awards for All (Big Lottery) – 2019-2020
With great thanks to the Community Fund for supporting our first collaborative project together. We worked within the Merseyside allowing us to work with many vulnerable groups in our community including within psychiatry. In Oxford, the project allowed us to work with adults in hospital undergoing or waiting treatment to bring relief from anxiety, boredom and loneliness.
Our aim is to help improve mental health through bringing joy, inspire learning and to bring connection. Here is a report on our first project with thanks to the Lottery.
Origami Pulse CIC 