South East London integrated care board (ICB) has launched a partnership to harness the power of the creative arts for health and wellbeing and to tackle health inequalities.
Together with partners South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Southbank Centre, the ICB hopes to improve the mental health of children and young people by offering creative outlets and resources.
The partnership will focus on supporting the development of:
- The Southbank Children and Young People’s Creative Health Centre: A dedicated space for creative health programmes providing interventions that improve and support the mental health and wellbeing of local children and young people.
- Waiting Well Interventions: Supporting children on CAMHS waiting lists through creative activities.
- Creative Health Prevention Programmes: Using the arts to promote better mental health and prevent issues before they arise.
It aims to build lasting change by securing charitable funding for impactful projects backed by a joint evaluation framework to be developed in 2025.
David Bradley, chief executive at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said that the majority of mental health conditions occurred by the age of 14.
And he said that ‘there is strong and growing evidence that creative health interventions play an important role in helping people with good mental health’.
In 2019, research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and University College London (UCL) found that cultural engagement can help prevent, treat, and manage physical and mental health problems.
Andrew Bland, chief executive at the South East London ICB, said creating a partnership with the Southbank Centre had been a priority.
‘Creating partnerships beyond the health service is the job of Integrated Care Partnerships. In south east London, we’re serious about finding those groups of partners who can best improve the health and wellbeing of our residents.
‘Waiting for people to fall ill before we do anything about their needs is the most expensive and unaffordable way to improve people’s health,’ said Mr Bland.
Through the creative arts partnership, the Southbank Centre and SEL ICB will work with NHS, cultural, voluntary, and charitable sector partners to set a longer-term roadmap to help deliver key programmes for local communities over the next 12 months.
