Keep up to date with our latest news and events.
Latest News
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Break
‘Break’ is a creative synthesis of research completed with clinical staff working in one of the largest physical NHS Trusts in the North West of England participating in an intervention that has adapted the Arts for the Blues into a multi-levelled creative psychological package aiming to support the wellbeing of healthcare workers. The piece was created…
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Together Un/Tethered, an Arts for the Blues immersive performance
Sneak a peak at our Arts Council-funded project, Together Un/Tethered. Participants and artists joined a therapeutically informed Arts for the Blues group at the Liverpool Lighthouse and used their experiences to create this immersive performance. Interweaving movement, spoken word, innovative soundscape, projection and live cellist, Together Un/tethered explores themes of separation, connection, new possibilities and…
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Watch the highlights from our scaling up Arts for the Blues project
Creative dialogue with Community – Video Watch our short video report on our stakeholder and training days as part of our AHRC grant to develop a strategy for scaling up arts-based interventions. We held two stakeholders events for 43 stakeholders from healthcare, cultural, community and local authorities settings. We also evaluated four training days with…
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New publication – Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS mental health services in the UK
Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS Mental Health Services in the UK: A feasibility study on patient and staff experiences of arts for the blues workshops delivered at Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services. Download our most recent article which discusses a feasibility study undertaken with patients and staff in an IAPT (Improving Access…
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A new strategy for scaling up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing
Last year Arts for the Blues received AHRC grant to develop a strategy for scaling up arts-based interventions across North West using Arts for the Blues as an example. To develop the strategy we held two stakeholders events for 43 stakeholders from healthcare, cultural, community and local authorities settings. We also evaluated four training days…
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New open access publication
Our most recent article discusses a feasibility study undertaken with patients and staff in an IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service. This article is open access and you can find it here: Karkou, V., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Parsons, A.S., Lewis, J., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Thurston, S. (2022). Bringing creative psychotherapies to primary NHS Mental Health Services in…
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Events
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Arts for the Blues adapted for postnatal depression
Tuesday 3rd November 19:00-21:00 UK time We invite you to join ENGAGE….conversations conceived across performance studies and the maternal. A series of online forums which consider, through different artistic and academic perspectives, how maternal performance helps us to understand the lived condition of motherhood. Each forum responds to a themed-provocation (question) and features a panel of guest…
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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…
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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 Announcements
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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…
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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,…
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