“ASDAN reaches people that society has ignored” – Prisoners in Northern Ireland create Macbeth adaptation

ESC Films are a film-making company and arts education charity based in Belfast, specialising in working with people with multi-complex needs. They believe in the power of storytelling to transform lives and have been successfully delivering ASDAN’s Short Courses since 2003. We spoke to Co-Founder and Artistic Director Tom Magill about how our courses have helped to reimagine the lives of prisoners in Northern Ireland.

“What convinced me to sign up to ASDAN was their focus on accrediting people with diverse needs,” says Tom.

“We were doing storytelling drama and film projects in Northern Ireland's high security Maghaberry Prison, which in 2015 the BBC reported to be the ‘most dangerous’ prison in the UK.”

“Over 60% of male adults in UK prisons have literacy problems. We had a meeting with an ASDAN Relationship Manager who listened carefully as I explained that many of the prisoners we were working with didn’t have the literary skills to complete the ASDAN booklets,” says Tom.

“ASDAN confirmed that we could accredit our prisoners by using video as evidence of achievement. We could use film to prove the prisoners’ core skills development, how they improved their own learning and build teamwork and problem-solving skills. ASDAN is so flexible, relevant, accepting and innovative. I was totally convinced that their courses would work,” says Tom.

ASDAN Short Courses are flexible, portfolio-based programmes designed to accredit up to 60 hours of activity and skills development across a wide range of topics.

“We were able to accredit 20 prisoners with what's now called ASDAN’s Citizenship Short Course by creating Mickey B – a filmed adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There’s been conflict in Northern Ireland for a long time and so we had former warring paramilitary prisoners working together on this project with us. They were able to put their differences aside and make an extraordinary film and our most successful project ever.”

“The moral of Macbeth is that ruthless ambition end in destruction and so through the ASDAN course, the prisoners were addressing these difficulties and challenges that they faced in their own communities, and they were acting those out through the mask of fiction. It was a therapeutic project for them,” says Tom.

“ASDAN has been accepting of our problems and our situation and have encouraged us to also be innovative in terms of how we recorded and proved the impact of education and our pedagogy.”

“The education system has failed so many people, particularly working-class people,” says Tom. “Many leave education with no skills and it’s so difficult to try and find employment, so many people turn to crime out of desperation.”

“We’ve always found a Socratic method (teaching by asking instead of by telling) to be much more suitable for people who have literacy problems, and who have an anti-authority mindset or people who have had a really bad experience of traditional classroom education.”

“Working in this way, it encourages people to discover themselves through storytelling, drama and film. The beauty of being involved with ASDAN, is that we accredit that and for some of the men, ASDAN's accreditation was the first they’ve had in their lives,” says Tom.

“They were awarded their ASDAN certificates from the Director General of the Prison Service, which was amazing. This was such a big deal for those prisoners who were considered ‘the worst’ prisoners in the ‘most dangerous’ prison but that’s just because nobody was addressing their needs. ASDAN was our way in. ASDAN’s flexibility and vision meant that we could reward their efforts with an educational accreditation.”

“I've spoken about this project at 35 universities in 14 countries worldwide. I’m always asked How did you manage to engage the most difficult-to-reach prisoners? I say it’s by using ASDAN’s Short Course accreditation as a real incentive and a way to engage them in something that they're capable of.”

“Mickey B has been translated into nine languages and has toured globally. You can watch the film for a small streaming fee, which helps us continue to deliver similar projects. We’re only a tiny two-person charity working part time!”

“I'm so, so thankful to ASDAN,” says Tom. “I spread the word at conferences and tell people that ASDAN’s is an incredible organisation with the vision to reach out to people who don't have literacy skills. If it wasn't for ASDAN, those people wouldn’t have any accreditations. They're able to access it despite their limitations, their lack of skills, confidence and abilities. Anybody who thinks that they can’t get accreditation, they haven't met ASDAN!”

“Thanks to ASDAN, literacy is not a barrier to accreditation. That's what sold ASDAN courses to us, completely.”

Peer Mentoring Short Course helped women connect and raise awareness of postnatal depression

ESC Films have more recently worked with the Belfast Trust and Perinatal Mental Health to create Our Safe Space - Perinatal Mental Health Film. ESC Films delivered ASDAN’s Peer Mentoring Short Course to a group of women who had all lived experience of perinatal mental health issues and had benefitted from the service. These women each wanted to use their experience to encourage other mums to take up the services on offer and reduce any fear associated with postnatal depression. Watch their project evaluation film below:

Expressive Arts Short Course boosts self-esteem of patients in forensic mental health unit

ESC Films have also delivered ASDAN’s Expressive Arts Short Course within a forensic mental health hospital for those with serious mental health condition and multi-complex needs.

“Through ASDAN’s Expressive Arts Short Course we asked these adults to tell a story and nine times out of 10 they’d choose the story of what lead them to becoming a patient,” says Tom. “With ASDAN’s course, we were able accredit these adults for writing a story but they got the therapeutic and cathartic benefit of doing it, so it's a double win, which is amazing. Many of them said that the course was like ‘getting the bullet out of the wound’ or ‘getting the poison out of my system’.”

“That was the most incredible moment – when that group of young men were awarded their accreditation. They had tears in their eyes because they never thought it was possible,” says Tom. “Their self-esteem just kind of rose up within them. They were so vulnerable, but through ASDAN’s Expressive Arts Short Course, they were able to tell their story.”

“ASDAN courses deal with people who have low confidence, low self-esteem, literacy problems, drug addiction problems, all sorts of complex needs.”

“ASDAN makes it possible for people to achieve because they meet people where they are – not where they should be,” says Tom.

“You can have real conversations with staff at ASDAN. They have a system that works. It's not administratively intensive either. ASDAN reaches people that society has ignored or who didn't think were capable,” says Tom. “I love ASDAN because it’s needs-drive and it values and accredits lived experience.”

Find out more about ASDAN's Short Courses and get in touch with our team to speak about how ASDAN membership can help your community.