Arts Care Gofal Celf have been offering a summer of outdoor workshops as part of their creative communities’ project and thanks to new funding are hoping to expand this to benefit those suffering with mental health issues within the wider community. 

Arts Care Gofal Celf are a registered charity based in Carmarthen and have been running since 1987. The director of the organisation, Chris Ryan says that their focus has always been on supporting mental health.

“When Arts Care Gofal Celf started it was about arts communities and healthcare sectors coming together with the idea of supporting people with mental health through working with professional artists. It was a partnership between Dyfed County Council and West Wales Arts, which was a sector of Arts Council Wales. This involved St David’s psychiatric hospital and the day hospital too.”

Chris explains that, as things have changed over time, the service is now much more community based

“Our services are now more community focused and based at community locations, rather than in a mental health service setting. We began to look at other opportunities to support people’s health and wellbeing and have worked with drugs and alcohol related services and the older and younger generations alongside voluntary sectors within the community.”

They are funded by the Arts Council Wales and Carmarthenshire County Council and work across Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

The unique model which Arts Care Gofal Celf uses is to engage professional artists, to work with them to provide a range of workshops and classes to support those with mental health issues in the area.

“Almost all of our artists are local. They express an interest and we then select from these freelance artists. We currently have 120 artists, who each provide a wide range of art forms. Dance is a major part of our programme – we provide general dance classes for adults and young children as well as classes for those with disabilities. We are the lead organisation in community dance in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.”

Everything that Arts Care Gofal Celf do is well being focused and they have worked with many local voluntary organisations.

“We hold seated movement classes in residential care homes and have worked with the stroke association too, and with the NHS for falls prevention.”

As well as the funding from Carmarthenshire County Council and the Arts Council of Wales Arts portfolio, the organisation generates income from working with charitable trusts and partnerships with other organisations. They have contracts with Hywel Dda and Carmarthenshire County Council to deliver well being focused programmes within the community. In a unique turn, they also have an in-house gallery which showcases the professional artists who work with them.

“The gallery is a way of having a creative space to support our artists. It also gives us more presence and many people wander in to see the artwork, then find out more about us. Commissions from the gallery go back into the charity to support our services. Our office location, on King Street is the perfect location as we are surrounded by other galleries and creative places.”

As with many services that were a lifeline for local communities, Chris highlights the sense of isolation that members of the groups felt during the pandemic.

“The services were missed greatly by some. In March 2020 we decided to move some of what we do onto an online platform. We had pre recorded films on YouTube as well as sessions on Facebook and zoom. It was quite a mixture and a huge learning curve for us all.”

He mentions the Write Well sessions – encouraging those taking part to get creative, as they work with a professional writer to explore ideas through creative writing.

“These have been running on and off for 5-6 years and worked quite well on Zoom. People could participate in their own space and if they didn’t feel like going out, they didn’t have to go anywhere.”

The Write Well project will benefit from the creative options programme, which will ensure the creative communities project can be taken into patient service and supported living facilities.

This Partnership, between Arts Care Gofal Celf, Hywel Dda University Health Board, West Wales Action for Mental Health and Carmarthenshire County Council, will build on Arts Care Gofal Celf’s Creative Communities programme to deliver a range of creative activities to adults in Carmarthenshire, living with mental health challenges and who are in inpatient services and supported living/residential care settings.

HARP is an innovation and research partnership, between Arts Council of Wales and Y Lab (Cardiff University & Nesta), to explore how we can generate, grow and learn about impactful creative innovations that support the health and wellbeing of the people of Wales.

They note

“As we all continue to navigate the effects of the pandemic it seems more vital than ever to work together in partnerships and networks. HARP will create that space to collaborate across health, care and the arts to find new ways of addressing the health and care challenges we all face. “

Ten projects have been awarded innovation funding to support ideas that improve people’s health and wellbeing through creative activities.

Chris says

“Thanks to the funding through HARP we will be able to have around 160 sessions to benefit the wider community.”

Creative Communities is Arts Care Gofal Celf’s community mental health activities programme, funded by Carmarthenshire County Council and Hywel Dda Health Board. The project provides the opportunity for adults, who have experienced mental ill-health and who live in Carmarthenshire, the opportunity to access high quality arts activities in the community, supporting creativity and wellbeing.  They usually provide opportunities at three areas across Carmarthenshire:  Llanelli, Carmarthen and Llandovery/Llangadog area, supporting over 100 people each year.

Rachel Murphy organises the activities, which have included arts in the park, family friendly workshops inviting people to have a go at working with willow, creating mandalas and using circus skills to create your own Poi.

Rachel says

“The service continued to adapt to support people’s creativity and wellbeing over the financial year in response to Covid-19 limitations. In October 2020, we introduced a short series of ‘Art in the Park’ workshops making the most of outdoor spaces to support connection, all of which were really well received before returning to online workshops once the second wave and third lockdown set in.   The current programme 2021-2022 is looking to offer a blended programme of face to face and online opportunities supporting people to reconnect with the community at their own pace via the arts.”

Rachel adds that the feedback has been incredible,

“We have witnessed a number of testimonials, all grateful of the adaptations to the usual programme and sharing stories of how workshops have provided much needed interaction, a platform to nurture friendships, be creative and a chance to learn new skills. All this, whilst acting as a welcome distraction from a challenging situation and mental health difficulties. “

One participator in the workshops commented

“This really is such a hugely vital service, providing so many choices of activities, to suit different people. In all likelihood, I may not have still been here without the vital chance to connect with others, ideas to give me something to focus on between sessions and the support from the fantastic staff as well as other attendees with whom you can just be yourself, so thank you. “

 To find out more about Arts Care Gofal Celf and their workshops visit the website or Facebook page. The gallery is now open Wednesday to Saturday.