Following the recent announcements of two new NIHR-funded mental health initiatives for children and young people, projects I’m deeply honoured to lead on, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide an update on several exciting initiatives and collaborations that continue to shape our work within the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing here at Edge Hill University.
The past year has seen incredible cross-sector partnerships, international engagement, and growing recognition across creative health, arts and health and arts therapies contexts, which I outline below.
Arts for the Blues and Arts4Us at the House of Lords
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of joining colleagues from across the creative health community at the House of Lords for a roundtable on children and young people’s mental health, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health and the National Centre for Creative Health (https://ncch.org.uk/blog/creativity-and-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-roundtable).
Representing Edge Hill University and our partners, I spoke about how creative, evidence-based practices can enhance therapeutic outcomes for young people experiencing depression and other mental health challenges. I was also privileged to discuss our collaborative efforts to impact services, creating opportunities for children and young people to have easier access to good quality arts provision that can support their mental health.
This forum was an important opportunity to highlight how creative interventions can strengthen national policies and guidance on wellbeing through the arts, and I was proud to see two of our flagship projects (Arts for the Blues and Arts4Us) included as examples of impactful, evidence-based initiatives in the policy brief circulated to the UK Parliament.
Arts4Us End-of-Year Event
Another major milestone was the end-of-year Arts4Us event. This is the largest UKRI-funded project looking at improving access to place-based arts initiatives to support the mental health of children and young people (£2.5m). Including over 50 partners from health, education, voluntary sector and cultural industries, this project celebrated its first year (out of three) of intense c of £2.5m funding of intense collaborative work.
A day shaped and moderated by our Young Arts4Us co-researchers, was filled with exciting presentations, stimulating panel discussions, engaging workshops and stunning performances, highlighting achievements in expanding access to creative health programmes for children and young people.
It also underscored the importance of inclusive, evidence-based approaches that empower communities to take charge of their mental wellbeing through meaningful engagement with the arts.
Representatives from the World Health Organization, the Social Prescribing Network, key funders, partnering organisations, parents and children from across the UK made this day unforgettable (see short video from event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhRLqGSsL_g).
Arts for the Blues: from Europe to South East Asia
Our international outreach has continued to strengthen this year. Between May and September, the Arts for the Blues team made it to Riga, Latvia, Turku in Finland and Coimbra in Portugal, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Arts for the Blues, an evidence-based creative group psychotherapy model with multiple projects collectively reaching over £2m and funding from NIHR, ESRC, AHRC, HEE and so on, is an intervention developed with colleagues from the University of Salford and is growing rapidly in the UK and internationally. For example,
- In Riga, Latvia (May 25), joined by colleagues Prof Scott Thurston, Dr Joanna Omylinska-Thurston, Claire Quigley, and Andrea-May Oliver, we presented the key features of the Arts for the Blues model following by experiential workshop.
- In Turku, Finland (Aug 25), our hosts made sure we were cared for after a full-on experiential workshop.
- In Coimbra, Portugal (Sept 25), our hosts welcomed Dr Jane Bourne and me to offer a full, week-long Arts for the Blues training. Amble opportunities for us to work with psychologists, arts therapists, other mental health practitioners and artists in a whole week’s training. Engaging, exiting, inspiring exchanges and impactful learning experiences for us all!
- In Indonesia (September 25), Arts for the Blues presentations and workshops were carried out in Jakarta by the co-founders of the model Prof Scott Thurston and Dr Jonalla Omylinska-Thurston from the University of Salford.
- In Nepal, Bangladesh and India, I am pleased to bring Arts for the Blues to supporting rescued child labourers, part of the ongoing ESRC-funded study CREATE, led by colleagues at QMUL.
We are delighted that the work grows, and the interest translates into direct impact on services benefiting children and adults all around the world.
Our research at UNGA Healing Arts New York City
In September, Arts for the Blues and Arts4Us reached another extraordinary platform, this time at the UNGA Healing Arts New York City week-long event.
A fully-booked workshop delivered with colleague Marcus Bull and a panel discussion at the research day at New York University following offered opportunities to showcase both the experiential and research components of the work. It also highlighted compelling evidence on the significance of arts-based interventions to positively impact psychological outcomes based on an umbrella review currently going through review at Nature.
https://www.healingartsnewyork.org/events/workshop-arts-for-the-blues
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/2025-schedule-unga-healing-arts-week-research-symposium
On a third day in New York City, this time at the iconic Guggenheim Museum, we see Arts for the Blues featuring in the first photo presented as part of the historic first-time ever publication of a photo essay by the Lancet. Both the launch of this publication and accompanying programme underscore how arts therapies and creative practice are increasingly being recognised on a global stage as essential components of mental health prevention and treatment programmes.
Since then, this historic photographic essay has been shown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Center (Malham) at the Global Health Exhibition 2025 (27-30 October 2025). With the theme “Invest in Health”, the Exhibition presents a major opportunity to engage global health leaders shaping the future of care, and to highlight how the arts contribute to our health and well-being.
https://culturunners.cmail20.com/t/y-e-qkyhujd-duddcckl-f
Showcasing our research and artistic methodology around the world is not only a personal honour but also a milestone for Edge Hill’s Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing — representing the kind of cutting-edge, socially engaged scholarship that bridges health, science, and creativity.
What’s next
Across these experiences, from Westminster to India to New York, a common thread has been the power of collaboration.
Whether through our partnerships with Salford and the National Centre for Creative Health or through interdisciplinary projects within Edge Hill, the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing continues to demonstrate how the arts can inspire, heal, and transform lives.
These developments further affirm our commitment to pioneering creative approaches to health and wellbeing on both national and international stages,
I am immensely proud of the teams and networks that make this possible, and I look forward to seeing how our shared work continues to evolve within and beyond the Edge Hill community.
Professor Vicky Karkou
Professor of Arts and Wellbeing
Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, Edge Hill University
October 27, 2025
