🎉 We're Funded! New Creative Project for Men's Mental Health
We’re thrilled to share that Everybody Arts has been awarded funding from The Baring Foundation to support the next phase of our Creative Care project with men with lived experience of mental ill health.
This funding marks a major step forward, allowing us to co-create a programme that supports men at preventative, therapeutic, and recovery stages—reaching up to 500 participants across ward and community settings.
Why This Work Matters
From our pilot project, it became clear that creativity can have a transformative impact on peoples mental health. We've seen the power of screen printing, dance, drawing and music to make positive improvements on mental ill health recovery- but there’s more to be done. We knew that the majority of SWYPFT inpatients are male yet engagement levels for men on wards are around 40-50% that of women. Where our Creative Practitioners have been successful in achieving engagement with men it has required a shift in art form or a different approach. We noted these findings were set out and interrogated in The Baring Foundations own report.
What We’re Going to Do
🎨 Co-Design from the Ground Up
We'll begin with focus groups involving service users, ward staff, community partners, and artists to ensure everything we do is shaped by those directly involved.
👥 Support our Creative Practitioners
Practitioners will be supported through:
A bespoke training programme tailored to the challenges of inpatient settings
Regular supervision, counselling and peer support
A dedicated Creative Practitioner ‘Staff Room’ to decompress, connect, and reflect
Access to monthly reflective practice and a community of practice
🏥 Deliver Across Acute Wards & Community Spaces
Our creative practitioners will deliver between 200–400 group sessions across four acute male psychiatric wards and in community spaces.
Alongside this we'll offer 1:1 creative sessions with service users, co-developing 50 Creative Care Plans
🔄 Smooth Transitions from Ward to Community
With average ward stays around 55 days, we’re building stronger bridges into community support, including an access fund to unlock creative opportunities after discharge.
Our strong links with Recovery Colleges, Creative Minds, and other partners will help ensure a warm handover and ongoing engagement.
📲 Innovation Through Digital
We're also excited to be part of a pioneering Creative Health app—think Couch to 5K for creativity. It offers free, 30-day guided creative courses (like drawing, creative writing, etc.). With this new funding, we’ll commission a course co-designed with men, shaped by our focus group findings.
We’ll be able to:
Track uptake and engagement by male participants
Connect users to in-person creative groups based on their postcode
Offer another way for men to explore creativity as part of their wellbeing journey