Cartwheel Arts- Art for Wellbeing

Lead service provider/commissioner

Name:

NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group

Type of knowledge

Type of knowledge:

Project description only

Prevention service description

The programme is funded by the CCG's social investment fund, which invests in local voluntary and community groups delivering projects with health benefits, with the view to promote innovation and strong communities, by meeting unmet needs using community assets. Other things that have been funded alongside the work of Cartwheel Arts include a circus, a Carers’ Choir, boxing clubs, angling clubs, and DJ schools.

The CCG funds three Art for Wellbeing projects. Purani Yaadein-‘old memories’ in Urdu-brings together people with dementia for shared reminiscing sessions, often with afternoon tea. Cartwheel has created and is currently trialing a game, Wellbeing Dominos, which centres on personal development, journaling and mindfulness—it plans to provide training to other groups and health practitioners to use the game to support improvements in mental wellbeing. The final project is a user-led group, Art and Soul, originally a course run by Cartwheel. When funding ran out Cartwheel supported the group to become constituted and continue independently. It is now funded directly by the CCG, and pays Cartwheel to manage its projects—its most recent was an exhibition at a Rochdale gallery.

Intervention/service type:

Befriending, mentoring and peer support; Community services; Community capacity building

Target client group(s):

Older people; Adults with mental health problems