Innovative creative health and training project awarded over £95,000 to improve young women’s mental health and enhance employability skills
An innovative new creative health and training project, due to start in October, has been awarded £97,825 through our Young Women in Mind grant programme. The project is designed to improve young women’s mental health utilising artistic and creative methods, while supporting them to develop a career in the cultural-health sector. The project aims to support paid work opportunities in the sector once training is complete.
Called the Bloom project, it brings together a partnership of three organisations Everybody Arts, Creative Minds and South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust who have a track record of working together successfully. The project will help to develop young women’s confidence, self-motivation and practical skills, as well as allowing them to explore their own creative health projects. Through the support of partners, each trainee will have the opportunity to advance into roles as ‘Creative Practitioners,’ delivering sessions designed specifically for young women in acute psychiatric wards, communities, or CAMHS services.
The three trainees will be paid the real living wage, allowing them to earn, learn, and prioritise their wellbeing simultaneously. The project has the potential to benefit hundreds of young women in the Calderdale area and beyond.
Bloom project inspired by Everybody Arts’ New Creatives programme
The Bloom programme is modelled on Everybody Arts’ earlier ‘New Creatives’ paid traineeship programme, designed to address some of the challenges and barriers that exist in the cultural sector by empowering the next generation of visual artists underrepresented in the sector. Lauren Iredale, Everybody Arts Director said:
‘New Creatives encouraged artists to develop new cultural activities that engage and inspire local communities, sparking creativity throughout Calderdale’.
Drawing on the knowledge gained through that programme the new Bloom project, will see additional support mechanisms for the young women who take part. Lauren added:
‘Young women in Calderdale face significant mental health challenges, and Bloom is here to help make a real difference….. ‘Through Bloom, young women will receive hands-on experience in creative health careers while also developing the tools to maintain and manage their wellbeing throughout their personal and professional life.’
Artist, Rabia Begum, was one of the participants of the New Creatives programme. Her project featured in a group show at the Everybody Gallery at the end of the programme.
Images of artist, Rabia Begum and her New Creatives Project outcome, ‘Bearing Witness to Genocide’ at The Everybody Gallery 2025. Photo credit: Matt Radcliffe
We look forward to hearing more about the Bloom project in the future.
Main feature image is a stock image.