Creative Practitioner Jo shares the impact of the Connecting Through Creativity project on a young person’s mental health and wellbeing.
CashBack – Connecting Through Creativity is delivered by Avenue Confidential. The project uses creative activities and art to enable children and young people aged 10-25 to explore a range of issues including trust, relationship building, emotional literacy, and positive ways to work through difficult feelings.
In support of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek, here’s a snapshot of the impact this project can have for a young person’s mental health.
C’s story
C was nominated to the Connecting Through Creativity project through Sensation All. Their mum applied for C to attend the sessions as she felt it would be good for their confidence and making new friends.
At first, C did not know a lot about the session apart from them being run at Sensation All. ‘I didn’t know it was about art, but I have enjoyed doing art.’
C is a recently diagnosed autistic young person with ADHD. Their mum felt the sessions would be helpful for C to ‘know that they’re not alone and that there are similar people in the world.’
Creative Practitioner Jo says that ‘C was engaged and chatty from the outset of the sessions but they found it difficult to focus on a task or conversations for a long time and often needed to move around the room. This made it difficult for them to complete tasks and also build relationships to make friends.’
Connecting Through Creativity is therapy-informed. Trained creative practitioners engage young people in group and one-to-one creative sessions, with parents and caregivers also offered group and one-to-one sessions to support confidence and understanding.
The Creative Practitioners supported C to experiment with different printing and mark making techniques, get messy, and step out of their comfort zone.
C demonstrated an increased confidence where practitioners could visibly see them feel more relaxed.
Creative Practitioner Jo
Over time, ‘C demonstrated an increased confidence where practitioners could visibly see them feel more relaxed. They embraced each new skill they were introduced to, exploring how qualities of line, colour and texture can be used to communicate their emotions.’
Jo shares that C is now more able to ‘listen to instructions and focus on a task. This has enabled them to develop a sense of achievement when creating finished pieces of artwork.’ C particularly enjoyed using mixed media to develop a piece of abstract art that was framed for them to take home and also used to make a sketchbook.
More recently, C was able to give advice and support to a volunteer to make their painting, and help other group members to make their own sketchbooks.
Expressing their voice
Since joining, C’s confidence and outlook has improved and C says the sessions ‘have helped with my ADHD and calmed me down.’ Their mum has also noticed that ‘once they’ve been to the group their stutter is better.’
In the past, C struggled to form friendships at school. Developing friendships in the group has enabled them to feel more included and comfortable within their community, boosting their confidence to go on and develop other friendships beyond the group.
C has developed their ability to express their voice using nonverbal techniques and feel confident to express their emotions. For example, Jo observed in the group setting that ‘C was able to share likes and dislikes with their peers in an open and accepting environment.’ This has enabled C to better understand differences between individuals and the community.
C is now more able to experiment and be comfortable in new situations, which has helped to alleviate their anxiety and boost their health and wellbeing.
Want to learn more?
- Find out more about Avenue Confidential’s CashBack – Connecting Through Creativity project
- Find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week
- Follow CashBack for Communities on X and Facebook
