Pathway

Pathway

Participants enter our pathway at hospital or community hubs through established referral routes via health clinicians, social prescribing link workers, direct GP referrals, and a wide range of support services.

The initial core Arts on Referral (AoR) intervention takes place at hospital, or community hubs based in a geographical area. 
During these programmes our specialist creative health artist facilitators do more than deliver an art session. They use their expertise to create an environment where participants feel safe, comfortable and recognised. Each session and activity is tailored to the particular group and individual.

The creative health facilitators are part of a community engagement network, acting in a community link worker capacity connecting participants to other activities and services in their local community. 

We recognise that an individual’s health and wellbeing fluctuates. Our pathway allows people to access it at different places and to return how and when they need to. After completing their initial intervention participants can move on to one of our non time limited follow-on groups in their community or the city centre. In addition we provide opportunities to engage with the wider cultural life of the city through creating collaborative art works with participants from our other groups across the city, exhibiting in galleries and taking part in workshops with our cultural partner organisations.

But we are not about creating dependence, we work hard to ensure we provide on-going support for people that progresses their confidence and independence, supporting people to grow at their own pace. 

Our unique Pathway

Development partners and funders across health, community and culture

We have an excellent track record of devising projects shown in high profile and accessible venues, working in partnership with cultural venues such as Arnolfini, Bristol City Museum Service, RWA, The Vestibules, Southmead Hospital, GWR trains, Knowle West Health Park, Central Children’s Centre, the Hub Lockleaze, and Greenway Centre Southmead.


We work with the Local Authority and members of NASP, to identify the areas of Bristol in greatest need, the gaps in our services and devise a plan to expand our offer citywide.

Participant Journey


Rene was an outpatient who had attended the Pain Clinic at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.


The Pain Clinic referred her to the 6 week Fresh Arts on Referral programme held in the hospital community arts room. 


As part of the pathway creativeShift visited the Fresh Arts group at week 5 to signpost participants on to groups based in the community.


Rene and a friend she had made, Deana, were not ready to leave the safe space in the community arts room at the hospital.  So they attended a monthly follow on group creativeShift facilitated for Fresh Arts. Over the next 6 months they were reintroduced to the idea of going to a community based programme facilitated by creativeShift. By month four Rene and Deana decided they felt confident enough to go together and give it a try. 


After completing the 18 week cS community based programme Rene and Deana moved on to the weekly peer led cS ,follow on group in the community, where they contributed to a city centre exhibition of work by cS groups from across the city.



Rene then felt ready to attend our city centre follow on group at Mshed hosted by the museum service. By this time she had developed her own arts practice working from home  She has gone on to create artworks which were shown as a solo exhibition at Arnolfini as well as contributing to other cS collaborative projects.

In a lovely development Rene went on to train to be a volunteer with the Fresh Arts Creative Companions scheme visiting patients at their hospital bedside to share an art activity and supporting wellbeing. 


Rene’s journey has been possible because of our joined up working across our partnerships.




Rene said:

“Since attending the group things have improved significantly for me. I now interact in the group setting and can finish a group without being triggered to extreme anxiety. I can get a community transport bus on my own, I get a sense of achievement every class I attend and every project I complete. I have begun my own projects in my small workshop and feel able to show others my work which was unheard of before!” 


Share by: