This Children’s Mental Health Week (3-9 February 2025), a new Arts Council of Wales programme funded in partnership with the Baring Foundation is seeking to build the arts and creativity into NHS support packages for children and young people experiencing mental health problems.
As mental health needs among Wales’s young people remain acute, phase two of the Arts Council’s Arts and Minds programme, will see arts organisations and professionals partner with NHS teams at Wales’s health boards to develop bespoke creative approaches to respond to the challenge.
The programme’s aim is to change how arts activities are integrated into mental health services and deployed as a regular resource within the NHS in Wales.
“The pandemic has had a big impact on young people that remains today. This, coupled with climate anxiety, inequality, social media and the impact of cost of living, means the need to support the mental health of young people has never been more important,” said Liz Clarke, Programme Manager for Arts, Health and Wellbeing at Arts Council of Wales.
“We believe that the arts are especially powerful in helping to give voice to people who may be marginalised through mental health problems, and we place a high priority on helping mitigate health inequalities through the arts.
“Fortunately, our NHS partners are receptive to new ways of tackling the challenge, both within primary and secondary care contexts, so with this support from the Baring Foundation I am sure we’re about to embark on some fantastic work.”
Mental health remains a strategic priority for both the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee’s and Health and Social Care Committee. The mental health charity Mind’s ‘Big Mental Health Report 2024’ also noted that the number of children and young people referred to services for anxiety increased by 34 per cent between 2015/16 and 2022/23, with the Wellbeing of Wales 2024 report finding that on average, younger adults in Wales have lower mental wellbeing than those aged 65 and over.
“We are delighted to be partnering again with Arts Council of Wales on Phase 2 of the Arts and Minds programme, which will focus on integrating creative arts into the package of mental healthcare support for children and young people across Wales,” said David Cutler, Director, Baring Foundation. “This is yet another important project originating in Wales, which has led the way in the UK with its strategic and cross-sectoral approach to arts and health.”
The Arts Council of Wales has been working strategically with NHS partners across the country to explore how creativity can support local and national health and mental health priorities as part of a holistic package of care.
This partnership is underpinned by a memorandum of understanding between the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh NHS Confederation, that aims to improve awareness of the benefits the arts can bring to health and wellbeing and to create a more equal, cultural and sustainable Wales. This partnership has received international recognition.