Keep up to date with our latest news and events.
Latest News
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Arts for the blues project wins funding to tackle depression through arts
A pioneering project led by Edge Hill University and developed in collaboration with the University of Salford, which uses the arts to tackle depression, has been awarded new funding to scale up across the North West of England. Arts for the Blues is a collaborative research project between artists, therapists, universities, NHS trusts and cultural…
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Arts for the Blues training
As part of the scaling up project funded by UKRI AHRC, we are offering Arts for the Blues training at Edge Hill University and University of Salford. This training is nearly full but do watch out for more training in the future. To keep in touch and to find out about future trainings, email artswell@edgehill.ac.uk
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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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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…
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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…
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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! …
Events
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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…
Research Announcements
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Arts for the Blues: The development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression
Omylinska-Thurston, J., Karkou, V., Parsons, A.S., Nair, K., Haslam, S., Dubrow-Marshall, L., Lewis, J., Thurston, S. (2020). The development of Arts for the Blues – the new creative therapy for depression. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. (IF 0.50) Read the full article here.
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Scaling up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing. Research-informed strategic commitments and recommendations using Arts for the Blues as a case example
Scaling up report with foreword from Dr Nils Fietje, WHO Arts and health: Karkou V, Omylinska-Thurston J, Thurston S. Clark B, Perris E. Kaehne A and Pearson M (2023) Scaling up place-based arts initiatives that support mental health and wellbeing Research-informed strategic commitments and recommendations using the Arts for the Blues as a case example.…
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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)
Karkou, V., Omylinska-Thurston, J., Parsons, A., Nair, K., Starkey, J., Haslam, S., Thurston, S., & Marshall, L. D. (2022). 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. Counselling…