HERA | Healing Expressive and Recovery Arts Project
The Hera Project (Healing, Expressive and Recovery Arts) has been running successfully in Brighton & Hove since 2014, and we set up the Robin Hood Health Foundation charity in 2016 as a result of rapid growth. We receive referrals from across the city.
We are funded by Arts Council England, Brighton & Hove City Council, the NHS, public donations and trusts & foundations. We provide a range of high-quality activities from art to singing and photography to creative writing. The programme is designed to improve people’s functional health and wellbeing, and our practitioners are trained creative professionals, experienced in supporting people living with long term health challenges.
Evidence shows that getting involved in the creative arts – painting, music, writing, photography, dance or other art forms – has strong health benefits, including better breathing, mobility, boosted immunity, faster healing, improved mood and enhanced confidence.
Our youngest participants are teenagers, and our oldest so far has been 96.
As we work in primary care, we see a very wide range of physical and mental health conditions, and we evaluate our impact using validated tools, which show:
- 89% of people make improvements in self-care & managing symptoms
- 94% of people feel more positive & improve social connections
Our work falls under the heading of ‘Social Prescribing’, one of the personalised care pillars of the NHS 10 Year Plan.
Social Prescribing:
- Uses creativity and other non-medical support to address the ‘social determinants of health’ in NHS primary care across the whole life span
- Asks ‘What matters to you?’ not ‘What’s the matter with you?’
- Is person-centred and values-based: social support, access to advice and creativity are basic rights, regardless of health status – a healthy life includes creativity
- Is a new toolkit for patients and clinical/social care colleagues
- Build links using community, trust, nature, expert knowledge and creativity
- Enables people to feel more confident in managing their health & wellbeing; to support each other, to access community, being in nature and creative resources
- Builds awareness & changes perceptions of how better health is created
- Addresses the fact that 80% of health outcomes are determined by something other than medical care, such as income, housing or social support.
What is Social Prescribing?
A social prescribing link worker can give you non-medical support to increase your social circle, advise you where to go for support with things impacting your wellbeing and health, listen to you and help you make a plan to improve things.
We help you to access the support and connections in our community that can help you to manage your health and wellbeing.