Creative health is the use of creative activity to prevent ill health, support wellbeing and help people manage and recover from mental and physical health conditions. The World Health Organization's 2019 review of over 3,000 studies found that the arts play a major role in health across the whole of life, and the NHS now refers people into community creative activity through social prescribing. We've built our creative health offer so that anyone referring someone to us, whether a GP, a link worker, a teacher or a youth justice worker, has somewhere to send them this month and a pathway that carries on after that.
Our creative health offer is open to adults aged 18 and over across the UK, with no creative experience needed. For pupils referred through a pupil referral unit or alternative provision we can work with young people aged 13 and over, agreed case by case (see Referring to us below).
Creative Health Sessions
Our Creative Health Sessions are six-week creative courses that anyone can be referred into or join themselves. Every session is led by a working creative, runs in a small group of up to 12, and needs no experience, no equipment and no cost to the participant. We run them from accessible venues UK wide, we provide materials, food and travel support, and after the first week people can join on a drop-in basis if a fixed weekly commitment is too much.
Colour, mark-making and working at your own pace with acrylics and mixed media, building to a piece you take home.
Observational and expressive drawing, sketchbooks and pen work, with no right or wrong way to do it.
Making music without playing an instrument: sampling, beat-making, found sound, voice and simple software.
Phone photography, light, framing and walks around your own area, ending with a small group exhibition.
Making and customising: upcycling, textiles, printing and embellishment, producing something you’ll wear.
Telling your own story on camera: planning, filming, editing and finding your voice, with digital wellbeing built in.
Each six-week block starts and ends with a short wellbeing check-in, so we can see what has changed and share that with the person who referred them, with their consent.
Where it leads
The sessions are the front door, and what makes our offer different from a one-off workshop is that they lead into our core programmes, which run throughout the year. Everyone who completes a six-week block is invited to carry on with us, and we'll talk through which of these fits.
Our core programmes are six-week courses that run throughout the year in fashion, music production, music business, and content creation and media, each led by working industry professionals and open to anyone who has been through our sessions.
Creative Flow is our monthly neurodivergent-affirming creative sanctuary: drop-in Saturday sessions in a sensory-conscious venue with a SEND-specialist mentor, built for people who find mainstream creative spaces hard to be in.
The Creative Collective is a six-month peer cohort of 15 creatives across disciplines, with masterclasses from industry professionals and a public showcase at the end.
The Creative Business Incubator is a six-week programme for anyone who wants to turn what they make into an income, working on their own business in real time with a funded launch campaign at the end.
Music camps and masterclasses run through the year and are open to anyone who has been through our sessions.
We've supported over 2,500 creatives through our programmes, with a 97% completion rate, and the sessions give people a way into that community without needing to apply for a place.
Referring to us
We take referrals from anyone working with someone who would benefit from a creative community, and people can also refer themselves. Our sessions are a community creative offer, not therapy or a clinical service, and we're clear about that with referrers and participants so everyone knows what they're getting. We'll reply to every referral within five working days, and usually sooner, offer the person a conversation before their first session, and tell you whether they've started, with their consent.
If you’re a mental health worker or social prescribing link worker
Our sessions suit people with mild to moderate needs: low mood, anxiety, isolation, low confidence, or someone who is on a waiting list and needs something now. Places are free at the point of referral. We fund them through grants and partnerships, so the number of places we can offer in any block depends on the funding we have at the time, and we’ll always tell you straight away whether we have space or when the next block opens. Refer by sending us the person’s name, contact details, the session they’re interested in and anything we need to know to support them well. We’ll send you a short wellbeing summary at the end of the six weeks if the person agrees. If you’d like to talk it through first we can arrange a call, and if you have a group or caseload you’re working with we can set up a programme specifically for your cohort.
If you’re referring pupils from a PRU or alternative provision
We work with pupils aged 13 and over on a case by case basis, and we’ll agree the arrangements with you before anything starts, because the right set-up depends on the young person and their circumstances. For under 18s that usually means a session delivered in your setting or in a separate group from our adult sessions, a named member of your staff involved, consent from a parent or carer, and a conversation with us first about safeguarding, access needs and what you want the young person to get from it. Experimental Sound, Content Creation and Fashion tend to work best for pupils who have disengaged from classroom learning, and all our sessions can be mapped to attendance, engagement and progression outcomes. We charge for PRU and alternative provision work on a per-pupil basis for a six-week block, and the rate depends on the case and the circumstances, so get in touch and we’ll talk it through.
If you’re referring young people from youth offending or probation services
We’re not a gang intervention or a diversion programme, and we don’t try to be. Our sessions are for the young people and adults intervention misses: those who are drifting, those who’ve completed an intervention and need somewhere to go next, and those on a court order who need something constructive and regular in their week. We’ll confirm attendance in writing where you need it, and the progression route into the Collective and the incubator gives people a reason to stay involved after the order ends.
If you’re a college, university, youth or community organisation
Refer anyone who would benefit from a creative community outside their course or service, or talk to us about running a session in your setting. We work with Mental Health Support Teams, wellbeing services and student unions in the same way we work with link workers.
If you want to refer yourself
You don’t need anyone to send you to us. Fill in the form below or email us and tell us which session you’re interested in, and we’ll get back to you within five working days, and usually sooner.
Sources: UCL and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (BMJ and British Journal of Psychiatry, 2019); BBC Arts and UCL Great British Creativity Test (2019); Artlift and the APPG on Creative Health.
We measure our own impact the same way the NHS does. Every participant completes the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and the ONS personal wellbeing questions at the start and end of each six-week block, we track attendance and progression, and we report the results to referrers and funders. Between 2023 and 2025 our programmes and events created £701,375 in verified social value, a minimum figure, which is £5.74 for every £1 we've spent.
Read the evidence
- Adults who engage with the arts every few months or more have a 31% lower risk of dying over 14 years, and monthly cultural engagement is linked to a 48% lower risk of developing depression (UCL, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, published in the BMJ and the British Journal of Psychiatry, 2019).
- 76% of almost 50,000 people said they use creativity to manage stress and anxiety, and 69% to build self-esteem (BBC Arts and UCL Great British Creativity Test, 2019).
- Arts on Prescription in Gloucestershire is linked to 37% fewer GP consultations and 27% fewer hospital admissions, with a net NHS saving of £216 per patient (Artlift and the APPG on Creative Health).
- Social prescribing is linked to 28% fewer GP consultations and 24% fewer A&E attendances (University of Westminster, 2017).
- Arts participation adds an average of three months' academic progress for pupils, and young people at risk of exclusion on Youth Music's Exchanging Notes programme kept attendance above 95% (Education Endowment Foundation; Youth Music).
- Young people on a youth justice music programme attended significantly more of their appointments than a comparison group, with a significant rise in self-reported wellbeing (Caulfield and colleagues, Youth Justice, 2022).
Why we do this
Creative expression is part of being well. Making something, whether that's a painting, a beat or a photograph, gives people a way to process what they're feeling, a reason to leave the house and a group of people who've seen what they've made, and the evidence shows that this protects mental health as reliably as many things the health system already pays for. Most people lose access to that kind of expression once they leave education, and almost nothing in the health referral system is built to give it back to them. Our creative health offer exists to put creative expression back within reach of the people who need it most, with no experience, cost or expectation attached.
Refer someone or get in touch
Email creativehealth@hypeandgenius.com to refer someone or to arrange a meeting. If you'd like to commission sessions for your service, school or borough, ask for Korinna or Lylo.
Creative Health Sessions are delivered by Hype & Genius CIC.