Abstract:

This paper explores how levels of anxiety, depression and mental health problems of people may be managed through unleashing their creative spirit within for health and wellbeing. Dr Rogers, and co-researchers Rogers and Tilley underpin their investigation with the growing expertise and experiences of medical professionals, healthcare workers and practitioners in the arts, particularly in the UK where The All Party Parliamentary Group for Health and Wellbeing (APPGAHW, 2014) endorses the arts for health and wellbeing for the Nation, chaired by Lord Howarth of Newport. The findings of the Inquiry Report (2015-2017), Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing – 2nd Edition, presents two years of research, evidence-gathering and discussions with patients, health and social care professionals, artists and arts administrators, academics, people in local government, ministers, other policy-makers and parliamentarians from both Houses of Parliament. The research paper includes the appropriate application of The Pedagogical Variation Model (PVM, Rogers 2013) giving insight to change-making from the perspective of change-makers and those involved in the change themselves. Legislation in the UK, The Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, for social prescribing (SP) now includes “Art-on-Prescription” (AoP). Stephen Clift, founding Chair of the Royal Society for Public Health, RSPH, Special Interest Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing, and a founding trustee of Arts Enterprise with a Social Purpose (AESOP) continues to pioneer the arts for health and wellbeing regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brandling and House (2007) contend that SP enables primary care services to refer patients with social, emotional or practical needs to a variety of local non-Clinical services. SP therefore aims to provide referred patients with holistic packages tailored to individual needs, where General Practitioners, GPs believe that non-medical approach may achieve better outcomes. In addition, we note the efficacy of SP as evidenced by the work of Veronica Franklin Gould FRSA, AMRSPH, Founder of Arts 4 Dementia who recognises how participatory programmes in partnership with arts venues, with training, re-energises and inspires people affected by early-stage dementia, and their carers. Her many reports Reawakening the Mind (2013), Music Reawakening: Musicianship and Access for Early to Mid-Stage Dementia – The Way Forward (Wigmore Hall 2015) Research carried out in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Education at The University of South Wales by Dr Susy Rogers, investigating the critical success factors for social prescribing ‘Art-on-Prescription’ with the Team of Academics Professor Carolyn Wallace (Director of The School for Social Prescribing Research), Professor Steven Smith and Dr Sarah Wallace shows how the methodology of Group Concept Mapping (GCM) adopting GroupWisdomTM s/ware provides a springboard for gathering data through online “Brainstorming”. Already several interesting aspects are emerging from the 191 statements collected from a research sample (n=80). In addition to social benefits of group activities, some psychological mechanisms may relate directly to art making. For example, the role of the flow state when attention is fully engaged in an activity and a person loses awareness of self, space and time being engaged within the artistic process, i.e., as a coherent sense being in the moment, predicting eudemonic happiness

Keywords:

Creativity, art-on-prescription, health, well-being, holistic therapies, mental health, dementia, social prescribing, Pedagogical Variation Model.