Last week’s first National Arts in Health Conference and Showcase, aimed at health decision-makers, set about clearly spelling out the numerous, often unrecognised, benefits of arts-related health interventions. The arts organisations were keen to overcome the barrier of the health sector seeing the arts as an additional, even fluffy ‘nice to have’, something peripheral, instead of integral to progress. Sound familiar to anyone working in the third sector? As a coalition of health charities, the Richmond Group spends a lot of time and energy quantifying our value add, for example via our Doing the Right Thing (DtRT) project. In fact, the interim DtRT findings show that our evidence of impact mirrors that of many arts-based interventions, such as providing emotional, psychological and practical support, and improving levels of supported self-management. Another two concerns that will resonate with health charities are the challenges of sustainable funding and scalability.
Anyway, back to the conference…The day saw many interactive showcases of fantastic evidence-based projects that allow arts to enter into the health space.
Eight year old Ben Jones was the star of the plenary session, performing a magic trick to the large audience at the Royal Festival Hall and speaking about his experience of hemiplegia. He had learnt this trick, and many more, at Breathe Magic Camp, a ten day intensive programme designed by occupational therapists and magicians for young people with hemiplegia. At Magic Camp, magic is used as a medium to make repetitive exercises fun and engaging. This holistic programme is cost effective and clinically researched; delivering 60 hours of therapy over 10 days. This is the number of contact hours recommended by the NICE guidelines but that occupational therapists rarely have the time to provide. Sharon, Ben’s mum, spoke from her perspective about how Ben is now able to ride a bike and do up his own buttons, and how she now has more time to herself. Really inspirational.
Other highlights include The Reader Organisation (shared reading groups to tackle mental health problems and depression), Dance to Health (dance-based falls prevention programmes for older people) and Finding Your Compass (helping people manage and recover from mental health problems through different forms of creative expression such as art, film and movement). The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra also presented their work with stroke survivors in Hull, improving recovery in a holistic manner. The participants define their own success criteria and, importantly, 100% of carers, who also attend, reported improvements in their own wellbeing. Ian, a stroke survivor and participant, said “the music has awakened something in my mind. I'm listening to songs from the 70s and 80s and I'm hearing the music for the first time.”
Raw Sounds, a Brixton-based project using music to improve people’s mental health, really stood out for me. They begin enabling people to express themselves through music whilst they are still living on hospital wards. Having had so many freedoms and choices removed, this project returns people’s agency in a meaningful and creative way. Sessions also take place twice a week in the community and participants are free to continue attending for as long as they like; amongst many other benefits, having such regular contact enables staff to feedback relapse indicators to care coordinators early on if needs be. Encouragingly, attendance is prescribed as part of a holistic recovery package.
Also at the conference were The Alchemy Project (evidence based dance intervention for young adults with Psychosis), Maslaha (opening up the topic of depression and mental health issues within Muslim communities, breaking down linguistic and cultural barriers) and many more…
Tim Joss, the Founder and CEO of Arts Enterprise with a Social Purpose (Aesop - the organisation behind the conference), confidently stated that the relationship between the arts and health is making headway, and that the efficacy, and sustainability of arts interventions is increasingly being recognised. We in health charities know how much of a long, uphill struggle it can be, but maybe by sharing our learning we make each other’s path to recognition less arduous?