In May 2023, the University of Manchester & NHS GM commissioned a survey to understand the professional development, training, and support needs of Creative Health Practitioners across Greater Manchester (GM).
A creative health practitioner is anyone whose voluntary or professional practice uses creativity to support the health & well-being of individuals and communities. This could be a musician working in a care home for example, or a mental health practitioner using the visual arts to to support young people with anxiety.
This survey was part of the wider Organisations of Hopeproject – a UKRI-funded academic research project led by the University of Manchester and working with a coalition of organisations to understand the potential role of creative health assets (people, places and organisations) to address health inequalities across GM.
As part of the project, Live Well Make Art disseminated a survey & led a consultation with members of the network.
We have summarised the findings below. If you would like to read the full report, please contact livewellmakeart@gmail.com.
Survey Responses
63 practitioners shared their thoughts and experiences:
The majority of respondents identified as an arts or creative practitioner, although there were a range of respondents from other sectors. People told us they worked with communities across the life stages:
We identified the training that creative health practitioners had access to which revealed that mental health, coaching, safeguarding & wellbeing were the most common types of course available:
A number of people mentioned Connect 5 as the most valuable training they had accessed
The Connect 5 training teaches practical strategies for supporting mental health and wellbeing. Participants learn about the five key well-being steps and gain skills to initiate conversations, recognise signs of distress, and offer appropriate support.
When asked about potential future training opportunities, Culturally Appropriate Working, Introduction to Social Prescribing, and Person-Centered Conversations were most popular.
What next?
The data gathered in this survey has been shared with a number of partners & initiatives working across GM to support & sustain the creative health workforce:
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The MYRIAD project, which is managed by Company Chameleon on behalf of NHS GM (www.companychameleon.com) is aimed at practitioners from the global majority who are working in the creative industries and are interested in developing their practice to support health and wellbeing. Contact rosalyne@companychameleon.com
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Five working groups are currently supporting NHS GM to finalise and then deliver a 3-year Creative Health Delivery Plan. The groups are: early years, children and young people, working age adults, older people and workforce. Contact julie.mccarthy@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk if you would like to join one of the groups. Commitment is 1 meeting every two months, online.
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Following the Organisations of Hope project, the University of Manchester is exploring the potential for a Creative Health Research Network and continuing its research relationship with NHS GM. Contact Simon.Parry@manchester.ac.uk for more information
Live Well Make Art will continue to be a space for practitioners to share best practise, reach out for advice & support & advocate for the power of creativity to support health & wellbeing. If you would like to share your work, opportunities or connect to other members please contact livewellmakeart@gmail.com.