Greenvale Specialist Care Unit – Artist in Residence
Bethlem Gallery worked with Lucy Steggals, Artist in Residence for the Greenvale Specialist Care Unit in Streatham, who finished the project called ‘Scrunch’ in December 2025.
‘Scrunch’ is a series of interactive artworks co-created with staff and residents and families/carers at Greenvale Specialist Care Unit, with the aim of complimenting the wider dementia friendly re-design of the centre and the development of a new sensory garden.
The name ‘Scrunch’ evolved out of the participatory sensory workshops led by Lucy, as a collective acknowledgement of the act of crushing material, such as paper of cloth, into a ball as an action shared by all residents.
The artworks include a series of wall prints (for install after renovation), and a set of interactive provocation toolkits aimed at encouraging sensory interaction between families/carers, staff and Greenvale residents.
Residents, families and staff joined for a session to launch the artworks and celebrate the contributions of everyone involved. Feedback was positive, with family/carers and staff reflecting:
“For people with this level of dementia, those little tiny moments are so significant and really significant to family members because often you’ve lost that person, but those moments are when you connect back with them. So anything that enables you to have that moment, whatever it is, is hugely significant. And for them, because their ability to make those connections has changed, if not gone. And so when these games help them to make those connections then that’s a really important moment, isn’t it?”
– Greenvale Resident’s Daughter
“The artwork games are beautiful because they are obviously very stimulating. The muted tones are really beautiful and calming, which is exactly what people who have behavioural issues need. They are lovely and I think they’ve been so carefully made – And the fact they’ve been made with our loved ones makes them really specific. So that’s perfect.”
– Greenvale Resident’s Son-in-Law
“The outcome, I do believe this is going to work wonders for the residents. Everyone’s going to get involved in this. You can see it, it’s bright, it’s squishy, it’s extremely sensory. The scrunch, it’s all coming into play. I think it’s going to go down very well.
Lucy’s been great and she’s just run the co-creation workshops so smoothly. She’s worked flexibly and responded to the group with patience – she has made space for residents to contribute in their own ways – she’s just done amazingly. And the staff have loved being involved to – I think the project’s been really enjoyable.”
– Greenvale Activity and Engagement Practitioner
Additional sets of artworks have been produced for other relevant SLaM settings including Chesham House.
