Support for Creative Mental Health Practitioners
Friends of the Future Collective is a Community Interest Company. Our purpose is to support, educate and offer connection to Mental Health Professionals and Artists who are providing creative activities to individuals and communities in and around the Yorkshire region and beyond.
What We Do
Friends of the Future exists to further collaborative approaches and solutions to contemporary social issues, specifically in the fields of art and health.
We came together to respond to the following themes...
The crises we experience in UK health & social care, both as working professionals and as service users.
Areas that reflect our expertise, experience, skills and passion
Environmental issues and their emotional and physical impact on individuals and communities.
The reduced status of arts education in the UK despite proven connections between creative practice and improved mental health outcomes.
We ask…. what can artists, educators, psychotherapists and those with lived experience learn from each other regarding these issues, and how might they collaborate on large-scale creative solutions?
Our four key areas of focus
Peer Support and Knowledge Exchange
Professionals in the creative health industry often work in isolation and within communities with complex mental health needs, so supportive networks and the regular sharing of good practice is essential. We have an ethical commitment to clinical supervision being a required element of arts based therapeutic provisions.
Education
and Research
Creative health is a relatively new area of health provision and we will contribute to the development of structures and practices that will support connection, growth and ethical practice.
Experimental Projects
Using the expertise and skills base of collective members to facilitate small, locally based projects. These will offer opportunities for artists and mental health professionals to co-create and collect data on the impact of new ways of working with groups, individuals and on professionals themselves.
Consultancy
Our services will ensure artists and educators are using up-to-date clinical practice in their creative offer, by sharing evidence-based psychoeducation interventions and training at a low cost.
