www.arty-folks.org.uk
Email: info@arty-folks.org.uk
Phone: 02476414740 / 074 436 436 34
Arty-Folks was founded in November 1995 by users of mental health services who felt disempowered by their diagnosis, ‘managed’ by the medical profession, and written off by society in collaboration with a community artist.
We ran our first workshop on 25th April 1996 and we have offered an uninterrupted service since on a limited budget with the support of our wonderful Peer Volunteers.
We believe that most mental distress is caused by life experiences and circumstances often outside the person’s control. By 2017 we were running four weekly creative Peer Support groups including one specifically for 18-30 years old who are struggling to transition into independence and adulthood.
Art requires the courage to let go of certainties and not being afraid to fail.
Our programme combines learning specific visual arts techniques with self-development themes that helps people break out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. We believe that within everyone lives a spirit of inquiry that can lead to extraordinary insights and breakthroughs and will build people’s resilience to cope with change and withstand setbacks.
We recognise that this is a very difficult transition to make and with this in mind we have embedded 1:1 Coaching and Mentoring throughout our service to help our members resolve issues impacting on their mental health such as debts, benefits, medical reviews, homelessness, hoarding, safeguarding, physical health and addictions.
This involves solution-focused confidential discussions and support to access opportunities to increase your health and wellbeing including volunteering, education, and employment.
Male and Female Adults 18+