As Community Arts Engagement Manager, Eve oversees the expansion of our arts programme to reach communities surrounding our hospitals. One year into her role, she shares some reflections on the projects and partnerships she's built and the positive impact of these on the health and wellbeing of our local communities.

Two central focuses of my work are supporting patients discharged from hospital, and working with long-term outpatients in the community, as well as supporting communities near our hospitals who might experience barriers to accessing health services.

So far, projects have included our Changing Perspectives photography course for people living with chronic pain, the Gallery Club for those receiving neurorehabilitation in the community, and a Creative Walking Group for outpatients recovering from cardiac arrest.

Changing Perspectives Photography course 

This seven-week course, run by artist Jon Rees, supported patients with chronic pain to explore their experiences through photography.

The project helped participants improve their confidence to engage with the wider community and meet people going through similar experiences, such as difficulty getting out of the house and the feelings of social isolation they experienced as a result of their chronic pain.

One of our Changing Perspectives participants shared: “It has reignited my passion for photography and helped me start to believe that I can live the life I want despite chronic pain, so I feel more optimistic about the future.”

Projects like this demonstrate how creativity can facilitate expression, foster connection with others, and provide a sense of hope for recovery.  

Support for families seeking asylum

In collaboration with Connecting Care for Children in Hospitals and Grand Union Health Centre, I set up a project to support families living in temporary accommodation near St Mary’s Hospital who might face barriers to accessing healthcare.

Together we ran creative sessions for children focused on different health themes and provided health advice and hot food.

We also organized a workshop led by Puppet Soup, for families to make bird puppets and complete a treasure hunt which invited them to interact with dentists, GPs, pharmacists and colleagues from St Mary’s Hospital A&E, building relationships between local families and healthcare providers.

Mosaic Community Trust

Mosaic Community Trust supports minority ethnic communities in the Church Street area of Westminster.

Working with artist Nisha Duggal, the group is developing a piece of artwork that will be displayed permanently at St Mary’s Hospital.

Members shared that they feel a sense of belonging in the space, with one attendee saying: “I felt relaxed when I came here. I'm happy to meet new people and try things I haven't done before.”

We hope creating this artwork will help the group foster a feeling of representation and connection to their local hospital.

Creative Walking Group

The Creative Walking group is a project for people attending Cardiac Rehabilitation clinics at our hospitals.

Each month, I host an accessible walk around one of our hospital sites with creative activities along the way inspired by the green spaces, canals and architecture of the local area.

Each project is co-designed with the groups they are intended for, I’ve engaged with those living in the community, spoken with people in waiting rooms and visited clinical settings to ensure we remain impactful.  

NHS staff teams have gone above and beyond to help us reach patients. I am also extending gratitude towards the artists who have helped design and facilitate these projects, including Jon Rees, Eva Jonas and Marenka Gabeler.

Partnerships with community centres, social prescribers, and arts organisations have also had a valuable impact in reaching communities and ensuring patient groups have continued support beyond our project timelines.

Looking forward to next year... 

Going forward, we have plenty of new and exciting projects planned, including collaborations with young people with chronic conditions and intergenerational work with the Dementia team, amongst further scope for arts engagement work in the wider community of North West London.  

Our Community Engagement Programme is part of our Beyond Our Walls strategy for 2022-2025. You can find out more about our arts programme here.