The third and final episode of a mini series of audio stories I've been creating as part of a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant from Arts Council England is about the health and wellbeing benefits of singing.

I spent time with 3 different community singing groups, capturing their singing sessions and interviewing participants about how it makes them feel and what benefits it brings to their lives.

Monday Music was set up by Grenville Hancox to promote the benefits of singing for general well-being. Its 65 or so members are mainly residents of Folkestone and its surrounding areas who meet once a week, during term time, to sing together. Grenville describes the sessions as a physical, mental and spiritual workout!

Canterbury Skylarks is the founding Sing to Beat Parkinson's group and part of the Canterbury Cantata Trust which supports a network of singing groups for people with Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions. The programme’s origins are rooted in the work of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health (SDH centre) and since 2018, more than three hundred practitioners have participated in Sing to Beat Parkinson’s training programmes.

Singing Mamas is a grassroots movement of women committed to improving wellbeing through singing. It was set up by nurse Kate Valentine to help manage stress, find connection and joy. There are Singing Mamas groups all over the country supporting women through pregnancy and motherhood, and with symptoms of postnatal depression.

This story isn't about new scientific evidence, it re-confirms and celebrates how singing creates community, a sense of belonging and identity along with supporting mental health, other neurological conditions and a range of physical health conditions.

If you'd like to commission an audio story about your work, organisation or group. Please get in touch.

Links:

Monday Music

Sing to Beat Parkinson's

Canterbury Cantata Trust

Singing Mamas

Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health

Socials:

@singing_mamas_org

@singtobeatparkinsons

@kate_valentine_singing_mamas

@creativehealthstories

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The second in a mini series of audio stories I've been creating as part of a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant from Arts Council England comes from The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury, Kent.

The Beaney describes itself as a 'pioneering therapeutic museum' which uses its unique building and collections to create a ‘tonic’ to enhance a visitor’s experience and improve their health and wellbeing. Its been at the forefront of wellbeing in museums for over a decade. I spent time capturing the sounds and stories from four of its wellbeing programme activities, tailored for a range of people with different needs including: blind and partially sighted people, people living with dementia and their carers, people struggling with loneliness and social isolation, older women and an artist working with science exhibiting in their Front Room gallery.

This story demonstrates how much public cultural spaces like museums and galleries can play a significant role in public health and are a lifeline for many people. Technically this story was challenging as sound echoes in big gallery spaces with hard floors and big glass cases, but it captures the great work The Beaney staff, volunteers and creative practitioners do.

Links

The Beaney

Museums on Prescription

Wendy Daws

Moving Memory Dance Theatre Company

Mellissa Monsoon

Socials

@the_beaney

@creativehealthstories

@wendydawsart

@moving_memory

@mellissamonsoonartist

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My guests in this episode are leading nature-based wellbeing opportunities for communities in South West England. They joined me for a fascinating conversation about how their services operate, some of the challenges they face and the wide-ranging impacts of being in green spaces.

Laura Tween is Director of Able Hands Together, a CIC based near Salisbury focussed on therapeutic farming for the benefit of the community and providing safe, accessible but life-changing long-term opportunities for adults who have learning disabilities, called “Co-Farmers”.

Roy Goddin is Founder of The Root Cause Project, a non-profit organisation supporting veterans and serving personnel in North Devon to rest, reflect, and enhance their wellbeing and mental health, using the restorative force of nature.

Marie-Claire Henon is Green Care Lead at Birdie’s Farm, Glastonbury’s Food & Regenerative Farming Centre which is a safe and impactful space for connection with others and educational opportunities to enhance the local area.

This episode has been commissioned as part of the Creative Health Associates Programme with the National Centre for Creative Health.

Links:

Able Hands Together

Root Cause Project

Bridies Farm

National Centre for Creative Health

National green social prescribing delivery capacity assessment: final report

Socials:

NCCH LinkedIn

Able Hands Together Instagram

Root Cause Instagram

Bridies Farm Instagram

@creativehealthstories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During 2024, I started further developing my skills and experience in recording, producing and editing sound as part of a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant from Arts Council England. I've been working with a range of organisations, professionals and participants who put health and wellbeing at the heart of their creative and cultural practices, to capture the stories and impact that being creative has on everyone involved.

The first in the series comes from Abbey Physic Community Garden in Faversham, Kent - where I live!

Abbey Physic Community Garden (APCG) is an inclusive, accessible community resource providing companionship, therapeutic activities, training and skill building for people with mental health issues and those who are socially isolated. It has over 400 members with between 70 and 95 people taking part in activities each week, including: gardening, art, poetry, singing, cooking, men's shed, and so much more!

In June 2024, the garden celebrated its 30th anniversary of supporting people with mental health issues. I was lucky enough to be able to capture some of the stories from people who have been involved in the garden from its inception, along with current staff, members and volunteers. I'm hugely grateful for them sharing and trusting me with their stories.

Suzanne Campbell, Manager of the garden says: "Wow, what an incredibly beautiful piece of work you have produced....You have absolutely captured the essence of the garden. It`s like you have used magic thread to weave together the many different life journeys /stories that bring people together at the garden. It`s wonderful., amazing and very emotional. Thank you."

Thank you to Jane Pitt and Kevin Grist who have been mentors in this project, supporting me in developing my technical audio and storytelling skills.

I hope you enjoy listening. If you'd like to commission an audio story about your organisation, project, participants or to bring learning and impact to life, get in touch.

Links

abbeyphysic.org

Socials

@abbeyphysic

@creativehealthstories

This episode was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985 and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. He has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years and in 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities. More recently, Marmot was appointed a Companion of Honour in recognition of his services to public health in the King’s 2023 New Year Honours.

In this episode, Sir Michael Marmot describes why he switched his medical focus to prevention and embarked on what has become a lifelong commitment to studying how social circumstances impact people's health. He explains what the social determinants of health are, and why they are fundamental to addressing health inequalities.

He talks through the recommendations he made in his landmark report ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review)’ and shares some of the evidence, and his thoughts, on why the follow up ‘Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On’ showed that health inequalities in the UK increased during that period.

We go on to discuss why he thinks the arts, culture and creativity are important to live a life of meaning and purpose and how he wants them to be available to everyone in their everyday lives.

It was an honour and privilege to have this conversation.

Links:

The Institute of Health Equity

Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review)

Marmot Review 10 Years On

WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health

The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015)

Status Syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004).

Creative Health Review

Socials:

UCL Institute of Health Equity LinkedIn

Creative Health Stories socials:

Instagram: @creativehealthstories

LinkedIn: @LauraBaileyCreativeHealth

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Grenville Hancox MBE is a musician, teacher, performer and conductor who has been at the forefront of initiating and researching music and health activities throughout his career. In 2003 he was a co-founder of the Sidney de Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health and later in 2012 founded the charity Canterbury Cantata Trust which developed a collection of singing groups including Sing to Beat Parkinson's, all demonstrating the principle of caring through singing. Grenville was awarded an MBE for services to Music in 2005.

Grenville shares his story of growing up with music at home and at school and how he recognised its therapeutic benefits from an early age, through to leading on formal research on arts and health, and his continuing singing for health groups where he lives in Folkestone.

Links:

Sounds Folkestone

Sing To Beat

Canterbury Cantata Trust

Sidney de Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health

Socials:

Grenville on LinkedIn

Creative Health Stories on Instagram

Laura on LinkedIn

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My guests in this episode came together through a puppetry and mask making project commissioned by West Kent Mind called The Forest Project. Cath Jackson is a Wellbeing Worker and Counsellor with the charity, Dani Thompsett is a guardian and big sister who joined the course as a participant and Russell Dean is the Artistic Director of Strangeface Theatre Company.

The four of us had a lovely conversation about the work of West Kent Mind and Strangeface Theatre Company, why puppetry and mask making are beneficial to our mental health and expressing emotion, the process of making and the experiences of participants on the programme.

Links:

https://westkentmind.org.uk/

https://westkentmind.org.uk/i-want-help/creative-minds/creative-showcase/

https://www.strangeface.co.uk/

https://www.strangefacemasks.com/

Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/westkentmind/

https://www.facebook.com/WestKentMind

https://www.linkedin.com/company/west-kent-mind/

https://www.instagram.com/strangeface3/

https://www.facebook.com/strangefacemasks/

Creative Health Stories on Instagram

Laura on LinkedIn

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Ash Nugent is a celebrated artist, writer and founder of RiseUp, a charity that uses creative arts to work with people in prisons and communities. In this episode he discusses his own journey from experiencing racism in the leafy suburbs of Liverpool, finding school unsatisfactory and uninspiring to becoming a disruptive youth and ending up in a Jamaican prison at 17.

His turning point came through being open about his love of writing, finding like-minded souls and pursuing an education. This all led to starting a CIC called RiseUp to help people who find themselves on the same path as he was.

RiseUp has a team of dedicated people who use creative arts and the Hero’s Journey to help people find self-worth and a better path in life.

Ash is an excitable, passionate storyteller dedicated to supporting others and I loved our conversation!

Links:

RiseUp

LOCKS by Ashleigh Nugent published by Picador, June 2023

Socials:

Ash on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn

Creative Health Stories on Instagram

Laura on LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.