About us
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.
Safe, respectful working
While working with you on your choice of creative health activities and/or support services, our Social Prescribers, Artists and Facilitators ask you to commit to engage in a way that benefits you and respects others, and to develop your skills to manage your health and explore change.
Our team is committed to working with respect for all and within safe boundaries.
These are encouraged and essential for everybody involved in The Hera Project.
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