Meet the Creative Health Leads: Kyri Chrisostomou on bringing community and health together in South East London
I’m Kyri, Creative Health Projects Manager for the NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) since June this year.
I work across all six South East London boroughs, so you might find me in council offices working with our public health, culture or ICB colleagues or supporting creative health projects in the community across Southwark, Lewisham, Lambeth, Bexley, Greenwich and Bromley.
My Background: Community Arts to Health System
My background sits at the intersection of arts, culture and community. Before joining SEL ICB, I worked for organisations including the London Symphony Orchestra, supporting creative health projects in hospitals and community settings; the Claremont Project, an arts and wellbeing centre for older adults in Islington; and Independent Venue Community, a national programme supporting education, development and community activity within independent music venues.
Through these roles I worked with organisations including the British Museum, Sadler’s Wells and Barts Health NHS Trust. However, this is my first role within the health system, so it’s fair to say I’ve spent my first few months swimming in alphabet soup (we do love an acronym) and back-to-back meetings.
However, I am really enjoying it! I’m working with amazing people and learning so much. It’s a very exciting time for creative health across the UK.
My Role in Practise
I’m very lucky to work alongside Flora Faith-Kelly, SEL ICB’s first Creative Health Lead and now Programme Manager. I support Flora with the delivery and growth of a well established programme of creative health sector development and strategic partnerships.
Our work focuses on highlighting where creative health is advancing the NHS' neighbourhood health agenda: supporting care closer to home creatively, proactively and in ways that are meaningful for local communities, as part of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.
Through supporting the creative health sector, we collaborate closely with colleagues across health and social care, including social prescribers and emerging Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, as well as local authority partners such as Public Health, Culture and Libraries teams.
A key part of my role is convening and supporting local creative health networks across South East London. These networks bring people together to celebrate and spotlight creative health activity and partnerships, share funding opportunities and learning.
And, they help shape local strategy, particularly acting as an engagement space for the creative health sector to connect with those shaping neighbourhood health in Place.
Convening our strategic partners
Convening our strategic partners is also a key element of the role, such as via Creative Health Southwark’s Steering Group. This cross-sector, cross-team brings together partners from Culture, Public Health, Local Funders, Social Prescribing, Local Economy, Local Universities, Anchor Creative and Cultural Organisations, Strategy and Communities, SEL ICB and SCHWeP (Southwark Culture Health and Wellbeing Partnership).
It exists to help convene the creative health sector in Southwark, increase funding and support creative health organisations who are acting as engagement leads for neighbourhood work. We co-chair this with our Public Health and Culture colleagues at Southwark Council and aim for identified workstreams to be co-owned as much as possible.
We also deliver training, ranging from Creative Health Foundations sessions for those in various roles across the system seeking to understand more about the local creative health offer and evidence base to evaluation support for both commissioners and the sector using the Creative Health Impact Framework, co-developed by the Greater London Authority, London Plus and Jane Willis. Alongside this, we regularly map creative health provision and support stakeholders to identify gaps and opportunities.
As you can imagine, this work looks different in every borough. We're often navigating shifting sands and contexts, but we persist in our mission to champion creative health across South East London.
Funding and Visiting Creative Health Projects
As ICBs are moving towards strategic commissioning we are working with our colleagues in the ICB’s Socioeconomic Development, Partnerships & Transformation team which Creative Health is positioned within to consider how creative health supports the ICB in this function, ensuring that the wider determinants of health that impact local communities’ health & wellbeing such as social connection, housing, opportunities to engage in work, to learn or volunteer or to access and enjoy culture are recognised.
As part of this, we have funded creative health organisations who are meeting local health priorities, to support them to evidence their impact within the health system. One recent example was our partnership with Lewisham Council to deliver the Creative Health in Lewisham Microgrants programme. Through this fund, six community organisations received funding to deliver projects using arts, creativity, culture and nature which support the Lifestyle Medicine Pillars aimed towards reducing cardiovascular disease risk.
I recently visited one of the grant recipients, Mads Do & Mend at Newstead Hub in Lee, alongside Amalia Restrepo, Research and Programme Director at our evaluation partner, London Arts and Health. We joined their weekly textile repair, knitting and mending workshop for older adults and people living with long-term health conditions.
It was wonderful to see their creative approach to evaluation and experience first-hand how the project helps reduce loneliness, support mental wellbeing and build new skills. Visiting projects like this is one of my favourite parts of the role, as it connects closely with my own background of working in community-based arts programmes and reminds me why this work matters.
How to get in touch with Kyri
If you’re interested in or already working in creative health in South East London, please do get in touch. I love a natter.
If we can manage an in-person meeting, mine’s a cortado!
Contact Kyri Chrisostomou
Kyri Chrisostomou l LinkedIn
