Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging
The National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) is on a journey to create change and shift institutional and structural power imbalances which drive inequity and inequality in creative health work.
Our current Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Statement, and Procedures Policy & Action Plan can be accessed here.
For our wider work we are using the word 'Equity' rather than 'Equality' because it recognises that individuals have different needs and that we may need to target our work in response to those differences. We want to nurture and support the conditions for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging to be embedded in creative health work and empower others to collaborate to advance change.
In 2024, Buse Kanber, a Masters student at UCL, did her research on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Creative Health and you can read a blog about it here. We have been talking to other organisations who are already creating change, including Writerz and Scribez. Their Director, Jemilea Wisdom-Baako, wrote a guest blog on Anti-Racism in Creative Health: Beyond the Optics.
Other blogs relevant to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging are:
Creative Health and LGBT+ Communities: Building Inclusive Pathways to Care
Anti-Racism and Ethnic Diversity in Creative Health
The Place of Creative Health in LGBTQIA + Personalised Care
Creative Approaches to Health & Wellbeing: A Neurodivergent Perspective
We believe that to create real change we must reflect on how people feel in terms of their sense of belonging to the creative health sector and systems, as well as to our own NCCH structures. In 2025 we worked with Debs Teale, a Lived Experience and Inclusion Expert, and an NCCH Trustee, to develop this presentation about belonging:
It included a link to a survey which has now closed. 50 people responded to the survey which led to a meeting in January 2026. We received really thoughtful responses. Some of the shorter answers to the survey questions:
When we talk about creativity what does it mean to you?
'expression and freedom of mind, experimentation, joy'
What do you think of when people talk about the arts?
'More elevated and specialised forms of creativity (involving professionals) usually staged by institutions belonging to the 'arts' sector (though not always)'
Does terminology and language really matter?
'Absolutely! Language shapes things. Defines things. Confines things. Frees things. Exalts things.'
What would make the National Centre for Creative Health more inclusive from your point of view?
'Using real people stories as examples. Use of language that is understandable by all.'
Do you feel you belong to the ‘creative health’ sector? If not, what would make you feel that you did?
'To be honest, again, I hadn't heard this term before, but reading about it on your website, I am a huge advocate for this and looking at holistic approaches.'
Creating Change
We know that to create real change we must first reflect on our own structures, so this statement of intent for ‘Creating Change’ is about our organisation as well as to encourage others. Our Creating Change agenda is iterative and we welcome any thoughts and feedback.
NCCH acknowledges that there are key challenges including (but not limited to):
- Sense of belonging in our own organisation, and the creative health sector as a whole
- Visible and hidden representation of diversity in our own organisation, throughout our work, and throughout the creative health sector
- Institutional and structural power imbalances which continue to drive inequity in creative health work
NCCH is working towards short-term, intermediate and longer-term actions for change, with these current aims:
- Focus on how NCCH itself and NCCH’s strategic influence can build and embed agency and equity.
- Concentrate on how we can be a positive ally in actively using our resources to challenge inequity in creative health work, and to focus on seeking opportunities to listen, collaborate and advance change.
NCCH’s current actions for change include (but are not limited too):
- Convening open conversations and dialogue around equity, identity and diversity in creative health, to help bring people together to share knowledge, develop joint initiatives, and advocate for inclusion in creative health.
- Showcasing and offering platforms for organisations and individuals working in the creative health field from global majority backgrounds and under -represented communities to highlight their work, and to inspire inclusive approaches across the sector, such as guest blogs.
- Actively highlighting recruitment opportunities to global majorities and under -represented community networks, for roles within NCCH and the wider sector.
- Offering additional support to those interested in collaborating with our Creating Change agenda who may face barriers to inclusion, to ensure spaces and conversations include small-scale organisations and individual voices.
- Developing an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Action Plan to ensure NCCH has the capacity to support and foster initiatives and active partnerships.
Download our Creating Change agenda PDF here >>