Blog

Call for evidence on art and mental health interventions in schools

Posted on by clare.williams

Does your work cover visual art and mental health in schools? Or have you evaluated a school-based art intervention? The Create for Confidence Team want to hear from you!

The review

We are carrying out a systematic review around the effectiveness of art interventions in schools to support young people’s mental health. We are bringing together academic research and work from organisations outside of academia to provide a more complete picture of the fantastic work happening in the area.

We are contacting people and organisations potentially involved in art and mental health work in schools to request relevant research that can be included in our review. (more…)

New guidelines for creating safe spaces launched!

Posted on by clare.williams

Create for Confidence team members Naomi and Lucy collaborated with the local community and a community garden to co-develop guidelines on how to make a safe space. They officially launched the guidelines on Monday 24th June 2024 at Redcatch Community Garden.

What are the guidelines?

The guidelines are for community organisations on how to make a safe space to support wellbeing and mental health. There is the “Safe Space Guide” designed by adults, and “The Young People’s Safe Spaces Guidelines” designed by 8-14 year olds. These guidelines aim to foster inclusive, respectful, and welcoming environments for all community members.

(more…)

Interviewing for the new Create for Confidence Researcher

Posted on by clare.williams

Recently, the Create for Confidence team have been searching for a new researcher to join the team. Being able to communicate with young people is vital for the job. So who better to assess the candidates than members of the Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG)? Jihaan (aged 15) and Ayaan (aged 12) joined the interview recruitment panel to feed back on how well the interviewees could communicate.

Jihaan and Ayaan share how they found their interviewing experience. (more…)

Create for Confidence collaborating with Universities of Bath and Exeter

Posted on by clare.williams

Naomi Warne (Create for Confidence project lead) has co-written a blog post for Tes with colleagues from University of Bath and University of Exeter. The blog focuses on their recent research on the role of school staff in young people’s mental health and how schools can support mental health.

Read the full Tes blog.

Create for Confidence Research Study Launched

Posted on by clare.williams

The Create for Confidence team wrote a blog for the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to launch their first research study. The new study aims to better understand what is already happening in schools around art and mental health, and what an art and wellbeing programme should look like.
Find out more information about the study on the EBI blog.

My work experience with the Create for Confidence team

Posted on by clare.williams

By Abi (Year 10 work experience student)

Intro

I am writing my blog as I am on work experience with Naomi. Naomi has introduced her project ‘Create for Confidence’ to me and explained how she is trying to bring art into schools to prevent anxiety and depression.

 

New way of understanding art for work

Before I had only thought art therapists took part in art for their jobs, however during my work experience I learnt about the diversity of jobs in this area. I also learnt about the types of researchers there are and what they do for research (experiments/ focus groups etc). I had also discovered people work in universities and were not just there to study. (more…)