I set up and ran an after-school arts for wellbeing club for Year 7 -9 students between 2021-2023.

The students were able to use clay, printmaking, paint, collage, inks, drawing and writing as a means of self expression. They were encouraged to make a mess if they wanted to, go with their imaginations, if they didn’t like what they created -they were able to throw it in the bin, there would be no judgement or showing of their art with others unless they chose to and they were allowed to listen to music on their headphones and/or chat. They could chose to do self initiated art or I would set them a theme/ showed them how to use different materials. Every week I would lay out resources/materials for them to chose from. I also would lay out a long roll of paper and invited the students to add something to it each week so that there could be a ‘communal piece’ at the end of each term.

Many of the students felt they weren’t ‘good’ at art but enjoyed the social connection of being part of the club and getting to make a mess, experiment and try materials they might not have used before. All of them ‘loved’ clay and this was the most requested material each week. They all commented that it felt amazing to be given ‘a choice’ in what they felt like doing which they felt didn’t happen much in the general school environment.

The rise of mental health interventions in school including arts for wellbeing is very much needed now more than ever as levels of mental health are rising rapidly in young people.

•  one in seven children of secondary school age (11 to 16 year olds) identified as having poor mental health

• 82% of secondary school teachers say they have seen increasing levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms among pupils, which includes low mood and loss of interest in activities they had previously enjoyed.