Have you been involved in creative practices or arts-based activities when working alongside older people?

This might be:

· Facilitating an arts-based group?

· Using creative approaches in clinical practice?

· Involving artists, musicians or actors in your service?

· Building links between your service with an arts group or organisation?

· Training artists to work with older people, including those with dementia?

· Working alongside artists to train health professionals in creative approaches?

· Projects or research looking at the benefits of arts-based approaches for older people?

· Experience of arts-health initiatives abroad that could work in NHS services?

· Developing policies or guidance about arts-based interventions for older people?

· Views about the role of clinical psychologists in delivering arts-based interventions?

· Ideas about what skills we might need to deliver our services using creative and arts-based approaches?

· Thoughts about the scope for integrating creative and arts-based approaches into our future practice?

An article could be:

– A short report of an activity or project

– A commentary

– A service evaluation

Articles can be up to a maximum of 3000 words including references.

Please send an expression of interest to submit an article by Friday 15th May To: Julia.Boot@merseycare.nhs.uk.

The deadline for submitting articles is Wednesday 1st July.

Publication will be in the October edition.

The MMFA is doing its best to keep us occupied during this surreal moment in history. It’s just one of a few institutions in the city that has moved its activities online so that residents can enjoy them from the comfort and safety of their own homes. In addition to free virtual tours, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is now offering at-home art therapy.

Further information here

The ‘Using museums for art psychotherapy’ initiative at Gloucestershire Health and Care (previously 2gether) NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted for ‘The Guardian award for AHPs working with people who have mental health problems’ in the 2020 United Kingdom Advancing Healthcare Awards.

Further information here

On Saturday 29th February 2020, over 70 people attended a sold-out event at the National Gallery in London, to launch edited by Ali Coles and Helen Jury and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. The audience included museum professionals and arts in health specialists, as well as Art Therapists.

Following a welcome from Anna Murray (Communities and Access Programme Manager at the National Gallery) and Caroline Campbell (Director of Collections and Research), Val Huet (CEO of BAAT) set the context for Art Therapy in museums and galleries. This was followed by four presentations by chapter authors: Helen Jury on Conversations with Rembrandt; Ali Coles on What Do Museums Mean?; Emma Hollamby on Artworks as a Stimulus; and Stephen Legari and colleagues on The Caring Museum. It is hoped that recordings of the presentations can be made available in due course. Nana Zhvitiashvili (Art Psychotherapist), Pippa Beveridge (Artist) and Dr Christina Bradstreet (Adult Learning Programmer, National Gallery) then joined the presenters for a panel discussion, chaired by Val Huet, and the event ended with a drinks reception.