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Examples of evidence

Studies of creative health approaches in child and adolescent mental health show:

  • Engaging with the arts helps young people cope with their feelings and distract them from negative thoughts [1]
  • Participating in creative activities positively impacts behaviour, self-confidence, emotional regulation, relationship building and sense of belonging, contributing to resilience and mental wellbeing [2], [3]
  • Arts activities have been identified as ‘active ingredients’ that help young people with anxiety and depression, particularly those with experiences of trauma, with evidence of significant decreases in symptoms in experimental studies [4]
  • Music-based interventions can be effective in reducing depression and anxiety in children and adolescents [5]
  • When art is used to boost self-esteem in children it brings annual per-person benefits of £134 [6]

Image Credit: Penpol painting and shock ArtsLab Project (FEAST) © Penpol Primary School, Photographer Steve Tanner

Creative health in practice

The ICE Heritage programme is a partnership between Hampshire Cultural Trust and Hampshire CAMHS, which offers arts, heritage and cultural activities to children known to CAMHS services, to improve mental health and wellbeing. 

The programme has observed improvements in wellbeing through confidence and self-esteem, self-expression, social inclusion and peer relationships, focus and concentration and fun and relaxation.

For the full story of this initiative see page 48 of the Creative Health Review 

 

“I got to work with a professional artist and we collaborated together to create art, and then I took over fully and made my own piece, and it got showed around the gallery and on billboards and on Instagram and it was such a big confidence boost for someone to say ‘look, we value you, and what you think, and your art so much we’ve put it on a billboard’.”

 - Creative Collective Member, Horsfall Creative Space, Greater Manchester (quote from page 47 of Creative Health Review)

Where next?

Practical strategies for introducing creative health approaches in mental health care: More information coming soon!

The NCCH has worked in partnership with NHS England to develop a Creative Health Toolkit, which includes examples of how creative health supports young people’s mental health with:

The National Centre for Creative Health

NCCH supports health and care sector professionals in organisations and systems to achieve the benefits of creative health approaches for patients and service users.

We publish a monthly newsletter especially created for professionals working across health and care. Please do subscribe here and/or share with colleagues working across Primary Care, Provider Trusts, ICBs, Public Health, Social Care and across the NHS, so they can access the latest news for creative health!

Downloadable information

Download this information sheet in PDF format

  1. Dowlen, R. (2021) Research digest: Young people’s mental health. Version 1. Leeds: Centre for Cultural Value. Available from: https://www.culturehive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Young-peoples-mental-health.pdf

  2. Bungay, H. and Vella-Burrows, T. (2013) ‘The effects of participating in creative activities on the health and well-being of children and young people: a rapid review of the literature’, Perspectives in Public Health, 133(1), pp. 44–52. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913912466946

  3. Zarobe, L. and Bungay, H. (2017) ‘The role of arts activities in developing resilience and mental wellbeing in children and young people a rapid review of the literature’, Perspectives in Public Health, 137(6), pp. 337–347. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913917712283

  4. Pote, I. (2021) What science has shown can help young people with anxiety and depression - Identifying and reviewing the ‘active ingredients’ of effective interventions. Wellcome. 2021. Available from: https://wellcome.org/reports/what-science-has-shown-can-help-young-people-anxiety-and-depression

  5. Geipel, J. et al. (2018) Music-based interventions to reduce internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 225, Pages 647-656. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.035

  6. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (2024) Culture and heritage capital: monetising the impact of culture and heritage on health and wellbeing: A report prepared for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Available from:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/678e2ecf432c55fe2988f615/rpt_-_Frontier_Health_and_Wellbeing_Final_Report_09_12_24_accessible_final.pdf