Musician and former patient shares his experience of battling schizophrenia

A former hospital patient has created a music video to share his experience of battling schizophrenia.

Cray Allen, 35, was introduced to the Music2Empower programme run by Cygnet Hospital Blackheath while he was a patient there, writes Alexandra Causer.

He credits music as being key to his recovery at the unit, which provides secure services and inpatient psychiatric intensive care for men.

The Music2Empower initiative offers music sessions to service users and provides the opportunity to record their own music and videos in a professional studio.

For Mr Allen, the programme resulted in the launch of a rap video called My Life featuring himself and another former service user, 37-year-old DuVonne Solomon.

Mr Allen said: “Music makes me feel like I have an outlet for all of my energy, my efforts, thoughts, problems and schizophrenia.

“It helps to take them out of my head and put them onto a page. I do this in a way which other people can relate to and hopefully it helps them too.”

Mr Allen has performed at the annual National Service User Awards, a nationwide initiative celebrating service user’s projects via mental health, learning disability and autism services.

Although he was discharged in 2019, he was appointed by Cygnet as an Expert by Experience, sharing his insight with Cygnet senior management and other service users.

Rachel Kitten, deputy head of occupational therapy at Cygnet Health Care, said: “Cray has had quite challenging times in the past and music provides him a way to express what he has gone through and how he is feeling in a positive way.

“It also helped to develop his confidence and self-esteem and gave a positive goal to work towards in his life.

“As Cray preferred individual sessions rather than group activities and we could see how gifted he was in music and art, we supported him through the Music2Empower programme to link up with Key Changes, a London-based charity which offers music recovery programmes for people affected by mental health conditions.

“During the programme, he was given eight weeks of free studio sessions and at least one of his tracks was recorded onto CD.”

Cygnet Health Care launched the Music 2 Empower initiative on World Mental Health Day in 2019 and has since rolled out the programme across its hospitals, supporting music therapy projects throughout the organisation.

The initiative aims to allow service users to showcase their abilities, give hope and inspire others to benefit from this established psychological approach.

Raf Hamaizia from Cygnet Health Care, said: “The difference that Music2Empower has made to Cray and DuVonne is what the project is all about – empowering people and giving them new opportunities to access resources.”

A video showcasing the work at Cygnet Hospital Blackheath is available at https://vimeo.com/569294748