Arts and mental health

All of our work is underpinned by the core values of equality and coproduction, and we embed these alongside the recovery model within our mental health workstream. We believe that the person is the expert in their own mental health journey, and that they should be in charge of it. Being able to express our views is fundamental to our human rights, and the arts can often be the best way to do this.

Engaging with the arts increases well-being, reduces isolation and promotes resilience. The recent national report Creative Health for Arts and Wellbeing http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/ clearly evidences the role of the arts to mental health recovery. We know from our many years of researching, delivering and evaluating arts projects that art can be a transformational tool for:

unlocking emotional pain
providing a platform for self-expression
challenging the stigma and discrimination of mental health
giving a voice when words are hard to find
reinforcing messages of hope, recovery and resilience

How we can work with you

We run poetry and spoken word workshops in your organisation, college, school, workplace or in the community, to challenge discrimination and stigma around mental health.
We coproduce art pieces using photography, collage, digital arts and textiles with people who use your services and supports to promote your organisation and reflect its values.
We develop bespoke leadership sessions for people with mental health difficulties - as a one-off, or as part of a wider programme of activities – to equip people with the skills to influence service change and improvement.
We facilitate events between local people and NHS trusts, commissioners, local authorities and service providers to design, plan and develop innovative solutions to services and supports.

This poetry book was written with young people after sessions in their school where they talked about mental health. They were supported by a poet to turn their thoughts, experiences and ideas into poetry, which they then performed to the school.

Other things you may be interested in

Arts with individuals

Arts with communities

Arts in schools

Latest

Labels and lazy linguistics

Lucy Dunstan - Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Valuing People (but do we really?)

Anne-Marie Glasby - Senior Development Officer
The forced intimacy of assessments

Katy Evans - Quality of Life Facilitator
Georgia Wilkinson

Project Officer

Our vision and values

Changing Our Lives is a rights-based organisation. We work alongside disabled people and people experiencing mental health difficulties, of all ages, as equal partners to find solutions to social injustice and health inequalities.
National postural care strategy

We all need to look after our posture. For some of us it's as simple as sitting up correctly at our computer. But for those of us who struggle to move our own bodies, for example if we have a complex disability, looking after our posture is even more important. If we don’t look after our posture, this can lead to debilitating health complications.
Mental Health People's Parliament

The People’s Parliament is a strategic body led by MPs with recent lived experience of mental health difficulties. Its function is to hold decision makers to account for improvements in services and supports so that people who experience mental health difficulties can have an improved quality of life and be in greater control of their own mental wellbeing. The Parliament is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, just outside Birmingham.
Where we work
Our brand
Safe places

The Safe Places scheme is based on the belief that everyone has the right to feel confident and safe going out in their local community. Lots of people feel unsafe at times in the local area; this might be because they have experienced crime or because they simply feel unsafe. For disabled people, older people and others who feel vulnerable this often means they don’t go out at all. The Safe Places scheme enables people to feel more confident, access their local areas more and know what to do.
Beth's Story

How Beth broke the mould around post-16 options by designing her own future.
Katy's Story

No one's too disabled, or too affected by mental health difficulties, to lead an ordinary life.
Best practice
Annual Programme

Our specialised team combines extensive experience, highly skilled and tenacious, professionals that are known for an innovative and outcomes based approach to practice and delivery.