featuring Creativity for Wellbeing
Jimmy – an artist – told me this story:
‘There was also a young kid there, sleeping rough, like me. I remember he was about sixteen, seventeen.
And we hung out together and I was just nineteen, twenty at that stage, and what I did was I took him to the Tate Modern and we spent two days. And then because of my art background, I shared like, I wanted to show him Rothko and you know, explained it all to him, and actually he started saying to me he wanted to become an artist and get off the streets.
So then he was put into a youth hostel for two weeks and he was out. He got into school.
So that, I was quite happy with that, you know, so I hope he’s painting, I don’t know…
Because he left his family when he was sixteen and he ended up on the streets because home life was really difficult for him and then he ended up trying his luck in London. So I just hope that he does something, yeah.’
This was not the only person that Jimmy helped get better through art. He is a real mentor. At the time of this story, he was homeless, and he himself was physically and emotionally exhausted. When I spoke to him, he told me how good it would have been to have something else to direct his friends to. Something which could help them further pursue their interests and would give them some basic tools on how to do it.
This is why I was very happy to hear about C4W. These days, internet access is more readily available, and a website like C4W can work as a first point of contact for someone who seeks healing through art.
C4W (CREATIVITY FOR WELLBEING)
C4W is a free art resource site which encourages all visitors to use one of its ideas or templates to create art in a way that is accessible for them and in a style that is purposeful and meaningful to them. C4W is created with the belief that art improves health and wellbeing and can create a sense of belonging.
Richard K Potter (founder of C4W) is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Brighton in Narrative Writing. He also facilitates art workshops (with journaling) in the community for young carers, people with Alzheimer’s and for those with mental health needs.
