Farne Islands, Puffin Community - Debbie Nicholas

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The puffin colony in the Farne Islands of Northumberland, number many thousand individuals, who mate for life and arrive and leave as a community each year. They demonstrate the importance of community as by staying together they are able to protect each other from predators.

Humans do not have predators to consider but by staying together in a community we can protect ourselves from the isolation and loneliness that can lead to or exacerbate mental health issues.

I was one of the founder members of Centrepieces.
I left and moved to Kendal in Cumbria in 2007. I have struggled with bipolar disorder for most of my adult life and find expressing myself through art helps to keep me stable most of the time. Since arriving in the Lake District I have helped to set up Space2Create which is an art project for people experiencing mental or physical ill health. It has many similarities to Centrepieces, check it out on Facebook. My favourite medium is lino printing, although I also enjoy doing zentangles. But I will try anything in any medium.