Last week our friend Jess Wilson came for a visit much to our delight! Jess and Julia have been close friends since school, continuing to support and influence each others career paths into their 40s.

A couple of days into their visit, Julia asked Jess what she would like to do tomorrow. Go for a drive to take in some scenery and perhaps visit a medieval village or two? Walk the dogs next to one of the local lakes or rivers?

‘Do you know what I would really, really like to do?’ she replied.

‘NOTHING!’

It’s such a rarity for all of us to have an entire day to do absolutely nothing. Can you remember when you had this last? There seems almost to be competition to prove that we are the busiest. But if you are busy all the time, when do you make the time to think?

Creative people need time to do nothing. Well, not ‘nothing’ exactly, time to think!

What makes a person succeed creatively, is the their ability to think up original and unique ideas or solutions to questions. Creativity is not relevant to ‘convergent thinking’, where there is only one right answer, but requires ‘divergent thinking’, where there are many possible outcomes and selection is required.

Divergent thinking requires time, space and quiet, in a calm supportive environment.

Jess Wilson is one of those people whose names will go down in history for the enormous impact she has made in her career as a Mental Health Nurse and Storyteller.

Jess has been using traditional oral storytelling as part of her practice in a forensic hospital setting since 2008 and has spent time teaching nurses how to tell stories and apply it to their particular setting. Jess has proved that storytelling can reduce anxiety, ease stress and calm volatile situations.

Jess is a Hospital Manager and is also currently setting up a new Mental Health Hospital from scratch in Wales. She must be pretty close to winning the ‘Busy Award’!

You can now surely understand why having a whole day to do absolutely nothing, in the gardens of Studio Faire; with the warm sunshine on her face, was all the holiday she needed to return to work refreshed!

Jess Wilson values the arts for mental health… we are of the same mind.

Find out more about Jess Wilson and her work at: jesswilsonstoryteller.co.uk

Photos: Colin Usher