In 2024 Culture Essex commissioned Creative Lives to map current creative health activity across the county. The report explores the current barriers and solutions to delivering creative interventions to support health outcomes in Essex. You can read the report here.

In response to these recommendations Culture Essex is working to establish an Essex wide Creative Health Network, which aims to support and strengthen the role of creativity in improving health and wellbeing across Essex.

The Creative Health Network aims to:

• Build a strategic, sustainable network to promote creative health practices across Essex.
• Facilitate collaboration between practitioners, commissioners, cultural and health partners.
• Identify and address gaps in creative health provision, particularly in priority areas.
• Support skills development and wellbeing of creative health practitioners.
• Share best practice and increase visibility of creative health activity and impact in Essex.
• Advocate for the role of creativity in tackling health inequalities and improving outcomes.
• Respond to and implement key recommendations from the Culture Essex Mapping Creative Health in Essex report.
  
  

Dr Natasha Richards-Crisp, the Creative Health Network Project Lead, will be facilitating regular network meetings and identifying training and skills development opportunities for practitioners. 

If you would like to learn more please contact us at culture@essex.gov.uk.