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About Creative Health for professionals

Creative health is defined as ‘creative approaches and activities which have benefits for our health and wellbeing.’

Activities include visual and performing arts, crafts, film, literature, cooking and creative activities in nature such as gardening.

Creative health can be applied in homes, communities, cultural institutions and heritage sites, and healthcare settings. Approaches may involve creative and innovative ways to approach health and care services, co-production, education and workforce development.

Creative health can contribute to the prevention of ill-health, promotion of healthy behaviours, management of long-term conditions, and treatment and recovery across the life course.

A substantial and rigorous evidence base for creative health now exists, showing community engagement can positively impact on physical health, mental health and wellbeing. Social, cultural and community assets can prevent poor health, help people manage and treat symptoms of their conditions, and aid health promotion via health communication. This can contribute to the ‘building blocks of health’ and support the work of healthcare professionals.

Importantly, these benefits are felt by people independently of factors such as demographics, socio-economic status, and other health conditions and behaviours. Creative health approaches can be used to aid in reducing health inequalities.

The King’s Fund has helpful explainers about how the NHS operates, and describes government decisions and their impact on the health and care sector.

Learn more about the Hampshire public health strategy and the breadth of public health services offered. Consider how your work could complement their aims.

The Hampshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) looks at current and future health and wellbeing needs and inequalities. This data can be used to inform planning and commissioning and strengthen grant or funding applications.

This ‘Health Inequalities Briefing Pack: quick guide to public mental health and health inequalities’ helps set the scene for wider priorities in public mental health. The Hampshire Mental Wellbeing Index provides local content.

Creative Health evidence and research

The National Centre for Creative Health is a registered charity championing creative health work and research in the UK, and holds the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. They publish a monthly creative health newsletter created for professionals working across health and care - subscribe here.

The MARCH network compiled literature and evidence on how social, cultural and community assets can support mental health. You can also explore their examples of best practice.

Alongside local health data, it’s important to use the evidence base to design high-quality interventions and where possible, consider evaluation from the outset. We’ve listed some resources we think you’ll find most useful.

Creative Health Toolkit by National Centre for Creative Health and NHS Integrated Care Systems. The toolkit considers enablers and barriers and is structured with reference to five domains: Leadership, Strategy and Governance; Planning and Commissioning; Workforce Development; Digital and Technology; and Evidence and Impact.

National Academy for Social Prescribing: Arts, creative health and wellbeing and Heritage and Social Prescribing guides.

Arts in Hospitals Guidance by the National Arts in Hospitals Network offers programme guidance and management guidance tools and inspiration.

Practitioner Support and Wellbeing directory. Search initiatives supporting creative health practitioners' health and wellbeing. Remember it’s important to look after your own wellbeing. For larger organisations, you may find the Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing Guide by NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight useful to support employee and employer wellbeing.

Not what you’re looking for? The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance lists many other relevant toolkits, guidance and factsheets.

Culture and heritage sector:

Health and Wellbeing in Museums Toolkit offers a step-by-step process for planning health and wellbeing activities in museum spaces.

Culture, Health and Wellbeing Resources by North East Museums and Northumbria University, Newcastle aim to support health and social care professionals to use museums as part of care practice when working with older people.

Authentic and Meaningful Participation in Heritage or Related Activities (AMPHORA) for mental health and wellbeing toolkits for project providers, social prescribers and potential participants, by Solent University.

Evaluation:

The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance has compiled tools and methodologies to help with evaluation considerations. Evaluation is valuable for reflective practice to understand beyond outputs to longer lasting and meaningful outcomes of your work.

The Creative Health Quality Framework is a good starting point. It articulates what ’good’ looks like for creative and cultural initiatives that aim to support people’s health and wellbeing, offering eight Creative Health Quality Principles. 

We’ve compiled free-to-access learning to boost your creative health knowledge and confidence.

Culture, Health and Wellbeing: An Introduction by University College London.  Aimed at professionals working in museum, arts, heritage or cultural organisations and anyone else interested in health and wellbeing work in the sector. Six modules, nine hours self-paced online.

Arts, Culture and Heritage: Understanding their complex effects on our health by University College London. Aimed at early careers researchers and community organisations interested in understanding how community resources – including arts, culture and heritage activities – can improve our physical and mental health and wellbeing. 

Dementia and the Arts: Sharing Practice, Developing Understanding and Enhancing Lives by University College London on FutureLearn. Eight hours (two hours per week for four weeks).

Mental Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention training:

It’s important you know how to have safe conversations on mental health and suicide in order to protect yourself and others. Please explore other sections of this website to understand the local services residents can access.

The Hampshire Mental Wellbeing Training Guide lists all free and funded online and face to face training opportunities on mental wellbeing and suicide prevention for frontline roles locally.

We encourage everyone to complete the 20-minute online Zero Suicide Alliance training. There are different course options depending on who you work with – general population, veterans, university students, autistic people, in prisons or people on probation.

The Place of Creativity in Public Health: Perspectives from Researchers and Directors of Public Health. A roundtable hosted by National Centre for Creative Health.

The National Centre for Creative Health has a number of videos and webinars that explore creative health topics in detail including Creative Health in the NHS, Data and Indicators in Creative Health Strategies and Workforce Wellbeing and Cultural Change via Creative Health.

Local health data webinar about what data is available and how to use the Hampshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). Length: 45mins.

BBC Radio 3 - Art for Health's Sake 15-minute introduction to arts for health.

The arts: can creativity help mental health? 40-minute ‘When science finds a way’ podcast episode by Wellcome Trust.

Explore many Creative Health Stories episodes from health and creative practitioners, including episodes from Sir Michael Marmot and creative health researcher Professor Helen Chattergee.

For further suggestions, explore this creative health podcast list from Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance.

Resources by National Centre for Creative Health that discuss commissioning include:

The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance has a list of organisations that compile funding sources.

Read the Arts Council England creative health and wellbeing plans.

Read information on the NHS 10-year Health Plan in Hampshire to understand how your work can complement these shifts in delivery.

Action Hampshire and local CVS organisations can help advise on applying for grants and funding. Hampshire County Council grants are listed on our website.

We encourage all organisations to use the JSNA data to provide evidence of need and target interventions in areas or communities most vulnerable to poor outcomes. This helps to ensure that programmes do not inadvertently increase health inequalities.