Week Twenty-Two: Art in Health

This week I have completed the Introduction to Art in Health short course with Wrexham University. This course has helped me to step back into the role of a Creative Producer and to think critically about how I would design and deliver an art in health project within primary care. I am often questioning the difference between art in health and art therapy as at times it has felt that the boundaries can get a little blurred. This has helped me to establish my own approach to art in health. What am I comfortable with? I believe that the creative activities should have a positive impact on the patient. The themes should be uplifting and should avoid triggering any negative emotions. I am realising that my practice brings together art and horticulture, and has a focus on nature connection for wellbeing.

Cyanotype Workshop (2024)

I have previously developed a Creative Wellbeing programme of nature-based art activities for patients within primary care who have been referred in through Social Prescribing. My recent training has helped me to realise that I was already starting to develop my own approach to art in health, and that this is something that can be built upon with consultation of working with different client groups. Whilst I have gained experienced of delivering workshops in community settings, I would be interested in gaining experience of working within hospital environments and care homes with both patients and with staff members in the future. I’m thinking about the stepping stones that will help me to feel confident enough to deliver such activities and I have been looking for volunteering opportunities to gain experience of working within these environments. I’m questioning how I would make a hospital environment feel less clinical for a creative workshop. I wonder if any hospitals in the East Midlands have access to garden spaces that would be suitable for a creative workshop? I’m also thinking about participants who are experiencing an illness and how this could impact their ability to take part in an activity. Each session needs to stand alone to allow for participants to come and go without the pressure of committing to a whole programme. So I’m setting myself a goal - to explore this work further so that I feel ready to deliver a workshop for NHS patients and staff by the end of 2026.