Projects with a wellbeing focus, achieving personal, social, emotional and health/mental health outcomes in addition to musical outcomes. Our projects here help to address social isolation and build transferable skills.

Our wellbeing strand is by far our largest strand, with a particular focus on mental health, and links to many programmes across our other strands. As such, the majority of our project participants are people with either a diagnosed mental health condition, or those seeking to manage their wellbeing as a result of a health condition, disability or social isolation/loneliness. Mostly we work in-depth with participants over the duration of a year or longer in our wellbeing strand, giving the opportunity for participants to build trust and rapport with our staff and helping people over the longer-term to achieve their musical and personal goals. We have developed a strong theory of change and evaluation framework which outlines the wellbeing outcomes and positive impact of our work through this strand, with statistical evidence and case studies. Through creative music-making focused on devising original music and lyrics, we develop soft and transferable skills, such as emotional literacy (using music and lyrics to help people express their feelings and emotions constructively), self-identity, social skills and teamwork, the ability to listen and compromise, building resilience and confidence. We support participants to connect with others with shared interests and lived experience, becoming part of a community and support network.