“Culturally Mindful is an ambitious new Creative Health residency and training programme taking place across Wandsworth throughout 2025–2026. Part of Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture programme, it brings together Global Majority artists, healthcare providers, and grassroots organisations to co-design new approaches to health and wellbeing support.

Born out of a recognised need to address stark racial and cultural inequalities in health access and outcomes, this project is a bold step toward more inclusive, representative, and community-rooted creative health practice.”

“Across London, arts, cultural, and VCSE organisations are delivering activities that have a huge impact on people’s health, supporting people who experience health inequalities, and improving the lives of many across the city every day.” – London Plus

I put together a brief DIY guide to project design, delivery, and creative evaluation using the information, wisdom, case studies, best practices and resources shared in the Culturally Mindful training sessions. I’ve also included some of my own reflections and ideas. At the bottom of this guide, I have included details of the incredible trainers/ facilitators/ founders + a range of useful resources.

Culturally Mindful was designed and curated by Jemilea Wisdom-Baako (community leader, artist, cultural educator and founder). This guide is inspired by the programme.

A DIY GUIDE FOR ARTISTS

Designing Your Project

The Creative Health Framework can be used as a starting point in the co-design and development of your creative health project. Working with your partner organisation, begin by identifying the health needs of the group you will be working with, the tailored approach you will take, the proposed outputs (number of workshops, activities and interventions), the intermediate outcomes, outcomes and impacts. It’s useful to find evidence-based research on the benefits connected to your output, whether it’s a creative walk, a dance performance or a collage-making session.

Ensure you’re clear on the basics and that you fully understand who you are working with, why you are working with them, how long your project will run for, how you will ensure the project is inclusive and accessible, and ways you will mitigate potential risks. Remember that health partners want clarity and quality assurance.

Your creative health project should be specific to the group you are working with, reflecting their needs and priorities. What are the health challenges they are facing? Are they socially isolated? Are they lonely? Are they anxious or depressed? Are they dealing with grief or trauma? Are they dealing with collective trauma? Your project should be rooted in care for yourself and for others. The sessions you deliver may seek to evoke joy, connection, creativity, self-expression, grounding and healing. They should have a positive impact on the health and well-being of those you are working with.

It’s important to plan in collaboration with those you’ll be working with. Arrange with your partner organisation to meet the group early on. At the meeting, introduce yourself and invite those in the group to introduce themselves. Share your ideas and find out what interests them, what they want to see and what would be of most benefit. Learn more about activities that have worked and that haven’t worked. What activities kept people coming back week after week? What generated the most engagement/ created a buzz? Were they embroidery sessions or day trips outside of the city? Walks around local green spaces and rivers? What has already been done successfully that could be built on? How can you add value through your specific skill set, practice, experiences and interests, to recreate and tailor these? To develop engaging, culturally mindful and relevant activities?

When designing your sessions, consider how appropriate your activity is and the skill level it will require. Once you have clearly defined your project, provide as much detail as possible on what participants should expect, thereby reducing any uncertainty. Get them excited about the project from the onset by sharing the wondrous possibilities that surround it! Ensure that you purchase high-quality materials and refreshments (and that these costs are included in funding applications). This will elevate the experience for participants, indicating a level of care and commitment you have towards both the project and those you are working with.

Be mindful of the location and space in which your activities will take place. Do not make assumptions about the kind of environment a group would like to gather and work in. Ask them where they feel most comfortable. Is there a place they regularly use / have used in the past? What spaces are familiar to them? A community space? A library? Outdoors or indoors? A mix of both? Consider the impact the space will have on your delivery and the quality of your project.

Ensure that accessibility is considered in the design and delivery of your project. Invite conversations on access with participants in advance. Work with them to create an accessible and inclusive environment. Avoid making assumptions. Ask individuals: What is your access need? How can I best support you in engaging in this work? Build a picture of what a space looks and feels like, and how it can be navigated. Be honest about barriers or limitations. If the venue is not fully wheelchair accessible, make it clear. Offer alternative ways to engage where possible. Could they be given materials, a 1-1 tutorial and attend sessions via Zoom? These alternatives should only be considered as a last resort.

When designing your project, be sure to include inflated access costs. Consider the costs for a fully accessible venue, a BSL interpreter, a support worker, taxi fares, etc. You can affect people by including them in spaces where they might not normally be included. And although you can’t force people to trust, you can make them feel comfortable and like their access needs are being met. This can be done by listening to them, advocating for them and by taking action.

Delivering Your Project

Plan and prepare for every session. Tell people what to expect; be clear, concise and truthful. Try to stick to the project plan but be aware that it may change to better suit the needs of the group. It’s important to be receptive, adaptable and flexible where possible. Regularly check in with those attending the sessions to ensure they are happy with the activity and the provisions.

It’s important to create a safe and welcoming environment. Reflect on ways you can create a space that is warm, friendly and inclusive – yet ensures that everyone feels comfortable. Co-create some class guidelines/ rules if appropriate or necessary to establish boundaries early on. Mitigate the risk of people being retraumatised or activated by others by potentially naming what topics are best avoided. Be clear about your responsibilities.

It helps to know and communicate what the invitation is in terms of the activity, but also of being in the space and engaging with others. Are there ways you can create and maintain a feeling of community spirit? Of positivity and optimism? Where possible, you might want to shape conversations by having clear themes and talking points connected to your activities. This may minimise the risk of people feeling vulnerable and exposed if asked intrusive personal questions. You can respectfully interrupt someone if they are sharing information that puts the safety of the individual and the group at risk. Oversharing, in some instances, can be dangerous. Remember you are there in a professional capacity. Depending on the activity and the environment, it is worth having two people in a room (you, the artist, and a member of staff).

Be sure to signpost participants to other services. Do some research and find out what is available in the way of community access to mental health support. Is there a local recovery café? A wellbeing hub? Age Activity Centre? What’s the number for Samaritans? What other support is out there? Citizens Advice Bureau? Refuge? Shelter? What other creative health services could participants benefit from? Are there any events or activities available locally, free or at low cost? Regular film screenings in the local library? Gardening sessions at a community garden? Note these down on paper, keep it handy and refer to it when necessary.

Your Role as a Socially Engaged Artist

It’s important to know yourself and to believe in yourself.

As a socially engaged artist working in the creative health sector, you can use your practice to foster community and create change through collaborative, participatory, and dialogue-based projects that improve health and wellbeing, and offer people new ways of seeing themselves and the world.

Consider your practice, your experience, your skills, your strengths, and consider the value you can bring to people. Your role, amongst other things, is to create joy, connection and an environment that encourages creativity, imagination, exploration and experimentation. You can change lives and inspire transformation, gradual, incremental, and substantive.

Be open-hearted and generous. It’s important to listen, to learn, to reflect, to encourage, and to teach. Be clear on your values and ethics. Understand that working with communities is a privilege; it’s also an exchange. Be clear on the invitation you are sharing with others, and the invitation they are sharing with you. It’s also important to recognise your limitations.

Consider your own safety and well-being and advocate for yourself. Ask yourself: what do I need to carry out my work? To ensure the session is positive and enriching for everyone? How can you care for yourself while caring for others? How can you navigate hostile environments? How can you develop your own code of practice or rules of engagement?

If you’ve been commissioned to work in environments that are unfamiliar to you, e.g. detention centres, prisons, hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, be sure to do your research and to learn as much as possible about the space, the procedures to follow, and the guidelines to adhere to. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This will enable you to prepare fully, to know what to expect and to mitigate risks. Working in certain spaces requires you to be confident, in control and to be able to lead.

Be honest with yourself: are you comfortable delivering the session? How can you grow in confidence? Do you have the skills needed for the work? Can you work on improving those skills? Additionally, consider the impact working in certain spaces might have on you personally, especially if you have trauma or lived experience connected to them. Would it be useful to have a debrief after every session with staff? Be sure to make that clear to the partner organisation. Being an independent artist/ freelancer often means you don’t receive the same level of support as you would if you were a member of staff.

It’s important to look after your own wellbeing, to ensure you have someone to talk to, to share learnings with. Can you organise or attend socials with other creative health practitioners? A space to ideate, to discuss challenges and to come up with solutions. To simply connect and create community with like-minded people. Identify your own coping mechanisms, whether that’s reading, journaling, cooking, going for walks, spending time with friends or creating art.

It’s worth investing in your own learning and development. Identify training you would benefit from or gaps in your knowledge and understanding. The following training is invaluable: mental health first aid training, trauma-informed creative practice, anti-racism training, access and inclusion in practice and foundations in creative health. In the spirit of learning, keep a journal documenting your experiences, challenges and successes. Constantly reflect on what you’re doing, and how you can further improve. Additionally, note down the changes you see in people who attend your sessions, and the wisdom, lessons and stories they share with you.

Consider how you can tell the story of your project and shed light upon the work being done. Be ethical and intentional. Ask yourself, in this instance, what is the most appropriate and culturally mindful way to tell the story? It could be as simple as recording an audio piece, taking photographs of the work created, or writing a weekly blog outlining highlights. It is crucial to gain consent from participants and the partner organisation. Consider the least intrusive and most impactful way to capture the project.

Creative Evaluation

Creative evaluation is about evaluating creatively using art-based methods. It is centred on creative thinking. Evaluation must be useful, benefitting you (the artist), the partner organisation and the participants. Be clear on what you want to find out and why. When designing the project, fully consider the form the evaluation will take. Involve participants in the process from the very beginning. Ensure they are part of the journey, so they develop an emotional connection to the project. Long-term follow-up communicates sincerity.

Make the evaluation process user-centred, accessible, and enjoyable. Consider creative ways to engage people in evaluation; this could be through collage, drawings, creative writing or story sharing. Could it be an extension of the activities and connected to your practice? Choose one method of data collection and integrate it into the project. There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to measure impact.

The evaluation enables participants to reflect on their experiences and journeys. You can use methods such as: body maps (Head: what do you think, Heart: what do you feel? Feet: what will you do?), picture scales (how do you feel?), or allow participants to express their feelings in relation to an object. When designing questions to ask, keep them simple and open – do not be intrusive or extractive, and do not ask questions that may cause harm or foster distrust. Alternatively, you could use sentence stems rather than questions. Or design a creative workbook for people to fill out, sharing thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions. Again, remember, gaining consent is crucial.

Resources and Training

Access and Inclusion in Practice

https://www.missjacqui.co.uk/about/

Trauma-informed Creative Practice - Kazzum Arts

https://www.kazzum.org/trauma-informed-approach

Mental Health First Aid England (MFHA)

https://mhfaengland.org/online-mental-health-courses/

Creative Health Foundations: Daniel Reagon

https://www.danielregan.photography/hire-me

Creative Health Quality Framework

https://www.culturehealthandwellbeing.org.uk/resources/creative-health-quality-framework

Creative Health Quality Framework Resource Pack