Creative Mental Health

People Street are research partners of the Red Earth Collective. We have been collaborating since 2022 on the Artist Development programme in Birmingham. The programme delivers creative activities in secure and community mental health settings. The aim is to reach racialised communities to tackle social injustice, challenge mental health stigma and support mental wellbeing. Red Earth practitioners work in pairs to co-design and facilitate creative sessions with and for people with a lived experience of mental health challenges in secure units, prisons and community settings. 

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This year we are supporting Red Earth with qualitative research and toolkit development informed by research conversations with facilitators, artists, and individuals with lived experience. It will include a comprehensive review of existing literature, case studies, and interviews with artists who have successfully conducted creative sessions in mental health settings. The toolkit will be designed to be adaptable and user-friendly, ensuring artists can easily incorporate its principles into their own practice. The dissemination event will take place in the Spring of 2025.