Category: News

  • Arts for the Blues film

    Arts for the Blues film

    A film about the Arts for the Blues project was included as part of the Healing Arts Symposium hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York. It was the only example from the UK and it was screened on 14th November 2021. The event was in partnership…

  • Arts for the Blues and NICE consultation

    Arts for the Blues and NICE consultation

    The Arts for the Blues project has recently published an article ‘Arts for the Blues: The development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression’ which has been selected for inclusion in a new special virtual issue of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research to coincide with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) consultation on…

  • Student training event

    Student training event

    17th April 2021 (online) We spent a wonderful training day with counselling and psychotherapy students from both masters and undergraduate programmes at the University of Salford and Edge Hill University. We also had lecturers from both universities attending both in a support and participation capacity, alongwith invited mental health practitioners.  Today was the first of…

  • Arts for the Blues training day

    Arts for the Blues training day

    16 January 2021 This weekend we had such an inspiring day with a wonderful group of therapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists, who together explored the creative possibilities for online delivery of the Arts for the Blues model.  We are so thankful to connect with everyone.  Here are some of the creative outputs from the day! …

  • Release of new publication!

    Release of new publication!

    The Arts for the Blues team are delighted to announce their third publication which presents the twelve session creative psychotherapy model for depression. This article details the approach taken by the team to inform the model and presents the eight key ingredients that underpin the therapy.  Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Parsons, A.S., Nair, K., Haslam,…

  • Arts for the Blues in Greece

    Arts for the Blues in Greece

    4th January 2020, Thessaloniki This January, Vicky led an experimental workshop and seminar based on the Arts for the Blues approach. Participants included arts psychotherapists (dance, drama, arts and music) as well as primarily verbal psychotherapists and psychologists. The day focused on the contribution of the arts to the treatment of depression and experiential work…

  • BADth annual conference 2019

    BADth annual conference 2019

    British Association of Dramatherapists 6-8th September 2019, Chester The Arts for the Blues team presented this autumn at the annual BADth conference. The British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) is the professional body for Dramatherapists in the United Kingdom. Dramatherapy has as its main focus the intentional use of healing aspects of drama and theatre as the therapeutic…

  • Research centre for arts and wellbeing

    Research centre for arts and wellbeing

    The Arts for the Blues research project is led by Professor Vicky Karkou, Director of the newly established Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, at Edge Hill University. The purpose of the centre is to engage with impactful interdisciplinary research on the contribution of the arts towards the wellbeing of people across the life span,…

  • Creative therapies conference

    Creative therapies conference

    25th October 2019, University of Salford Ailsa Parsons and Dr Linda Dubrow-Marshall, both members of the Arts for the Blues project, presented and delivered an experiential workshop at the first ever Creative Therapies Conference at Salford University. This full day event celebrated and explored how creativity can be used therapeutically through every age of life.…

  • IMEC International Meaning Conference

    IMEC International Meaning Conference

    London, 12-14th July 2019 This Saturday, Dr Joanna Omylinska-Thurston and Prof Vicky Karkou are presenting Arts for the Blues : A Creative Psychological Intervention for Depression, at the IMEC International Meaning Conference; a bi-annual international conference in the UK for practitioners and researchers who focus at meaning in life and at helping people to live a meaningful life despite life’s challenges http://www.meaning.org.uk…