Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at EHU

17/04/2026

For registration, follow this link: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/research/healthresearchinstitute/research-centre-for-arts-and-wellbeing/events/

17/04/2026

For registration, following this link: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/research/healthresearchinstitute/research-centre-for-arts-and-wellbeing/events/

17/04/2026

Arts for the Blues onlline training for practitioners and supervisors is about to begin! Only one week left for the first 2-day training leading to registration as an Arts for the Blues practitioner. We are so very excited to be promoting this with the support of the Jameel Arts and Health lab! Joanna Omylinska-Thurston, Scott Thurston, Nisha Sajnani, Christopher Bailey. For registration follow this link: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/research/healthresearchinstitute/research-centre-for-arts-and-wellbeing/events/

29/03/2026

Christopher Bailey and Vicky Karkou at BBC Radio today, 4-6, with Des Flanagan, discussing the event we are planning with Shakespeare North on Wednesday 1st April, 6-8 on Shakespeare, Youth and the Secret to Human Hapiness: https://shakespearenorthplayhouse.co.uk/event/shakespeare-youth-and-the-secret-to-human-happiness/ -booking
How exciting!

Christopher Bailey will perform with younger and older folk on themes inspired by the Shakespeare canon.

03/03/2026

We are pround to announce that the Arts for the Blues training is now available online, for those wanting to become registered practitioners!!

Looking to strengthen your creative, group-based mental health practice?

Join the Arts for the Blues Two-Day Initial Training, delivered online by Edge Hill University.

This course introduces the Arts for the Blues model, an evidence-based creative group psychotherapy approach developed through research and real-world practice. Find out more here: artsfortheblues.com

Over two days, you’ll gain:

✔ A clear understanding of the Arts for the Blues model
✔ Hands-on experience of arts-based group processes
✔ Insight into the research evidence and theory behind the approach
✔ Confidence to begin integrating the model into your own work

Ideal for:

✔Mental health practitioners
✔Counsellors
✔Psychotherapists
✔Arts therapists

and those working in community or wellbeing settings who want to develop their creative group practice.

📅 24–25 April 2026
🕙 10:00–16:00
📍Online

🔗 Secure your place: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/industry/continuing-professional-development/arts-for-the-blues-two-day-initial-training/

A two-day in-depth training programme designed to enable practitioners (in band 5 therapy roles with appropriate qualifications) to implement the Arts for the Blues model in group therapy sessions for service users.

19/01/2026

A new exciting announcement from the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at EHU: The arts can lead to a healthier Wales: £588 Million Annual Impact on Health and Productivity https://arts.wales/news-jobs-opportunities/how-arts-power-healthier-wales-ps588-million-annual-impact-on-health-and
Tendered by the Arts Council of Wales and with colleagues from the University of Bangor we have calculated the economic benefits from arts engagement. This report creates a compeling arguement of why the arts and arts psychotherapies do not only contribute to improving people's mental and physical health, but also lead to important economic benefits. These benefits can be seen across art forms and across age groups!

We help people to make, present and exhibit the arts. We work with artists and organisations to reach as many people as we can. And we research the ways we can protect and sustain creative activities in Wales.

03/01/2026

Updates from the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing! Happy New Year to all! EHU Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine, Edge Hill University

19/11/2025

A unique, online opportunity to become an Arts for the Blues facilitator and/or supervisor! Training dates are now out: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/.../research-centre.../events/ for our flagship evidence-based creative psychological intervention currently in routine delivery in trusts, schools and chanrities. Developed by Edge Hill University and the University of Salford, we are running, for the first time, not only a two-day practitioners' training (https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/industry/continuing-professional-development/arts-for-the-blues-two-day-initial-training/) but also a two-day supervisors' training (https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/industry/continuing-professional-development/arts-for-the-blues-supervision-training/).
EHU Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine, Joanna Omylinska-Thurston, Scott Thurston

Edge Hill University offers a programme of events that will open up conversations, enrich, entertain, excite and educate. Find out more.

03/11/2025

Back in September, we filmed something special... and tonight you get to see it!

Tune in to ITV Granada Reports tonight at 6pm to catch Prof Vicky Karkou talking about all the great work happening at the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at Edge Hill University!
Edge Hill University; EHU Faculty of Health, Social Care and Medicine

29/10/2025

So many things to be proud about!

Professor Vicky Karkou provides an update on the past year's work by the team at the Research Centre for Arts and Wellbeing.

27/10/2025

News from the Arts4Us project! With exciting outputs, events and a questionnaire that needs your input! Edge Hill University

22/10/2025

Help us reach our sample target! If you are working with children and young people your opinion matters:
📝Invitation to complete a frontline staff user questionnaire
The Arts4Us project is exploring how to improve access to arts activities that support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. If you work in arts/culture, education, local authority, or the VCFSE sector, we’d love to hear from you! Take part in a questionnaire or focus group to share your insights on:
✅ The current provision of arts activities for young people
✅ What young people enjoy (and don’t!) about arts participation
✅ Digital access to arts for mental health support
✅ Barriers and facilitators to participation
✅ How we can reach the most vulnerable young people
Your input can help shape better access to creative opportunities for young people!

Online surveys is a powerful, easy to use tool for creating online surveys. Run by Jisc, online surveys is used by over 300 different organisations in the UK...