Arts for the Blues: CPD training on safe uses of the arts to support mental health and wellbeing

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'Arts for the Blues' is a project that offers safe ways of using the arts for mental health and wellbeing. It's a model for groupwork that uses a range of creative approaches including visual art, creative writing, music, drama, dance and movement. It has a structure but it's highly adaptable to different people's needs.Arts for the Blues is based on eight 'key ingredients' that can help people change in a positive way: encouraging active engagement, learning skills, developing relationships, expressing emotions, processing at a deeper level, gaining understanding, experimenting with different ways of being and integrating useful material. It also works in four phases: introduction, encouraging strengths, addressing difficulties, and closure.The model is based on a mixture of academic research, public input, contributions from NHS staff and service users and artistic work, and has been piloted in-person and online with the NHS, in the community, and in schools.This particular project aims to develop already-existing Arts for the Blues training materials into a two-day 'Continuing Professional Development' course, supported by a website and a reflective practice group. We hope that this will enable us to spread this way of working more widely and encourage take-up of our model in frontline health services as well as among private practitioners.