Opportunities & Events

Art Boost - Expression of Interest - Hywel Dda University Health Board (HdUHB)

Location: South West Wales | Start Date: January 2022

Summary:

Hywel Dda University Health Board is inviting expressions of interest from arts organisations to develop and deliver Art Boost; a 1 year pilot arts in mental health programme for children and young people living with eating disorders, self-injuring behaviours, low mood and/or suicidal feelings.

Content:

Hywel Dda University Health Board (HdUHB) is inviting expressions of interest from arts organisations to further develop and deliver Art Boost; a one year pilot arts in mental health programme for children and young people (CYP) living with eating disorders, self-injuring behaviours, low mood and/or suicidal ideation.

The programme is funded by Celf a’r meddwl | Arts and minds - a new Baring Foundation and Arts Council of Wales programme which aims to support better mental health in Wales and is supported by the National Lottery.

Deadline: 9am Monday 6th December 2021

Interviews: Wednesday 15th December 2021

Art Boost Project context:

This high-quality arts intervention will be an ambitious first for HDdUHB and will pilot new creative activities that capitalise on the transformative power of the arts to reduce psychological distress in CYP people. This group has been identified as a priority via the Specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (sCAMHS) and will be developed in partnership with sCAMHS, the new Arts in Health Team at HdUHB and will involve patients who are known to sCAMHS and receiving treatment.

The Brief:

HdUHb is inviting expressions of interest from arts organisations to plan, prepare, coordinate and deliver a new artistically vibrant pilot of creative activities designed to have a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of CYP living in west Wales (Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Camarthenshire).

We are looking for creative proposals that will offer a programme of arts activity to enable CYP to reduce psychological distress, build the skills and resilience to broaden their tool box for coping with negative experiences and gain an increased sense of empowerment.

HdUHB will select up to 3 arts organisations to further develop your proposals in partnership with sCAMHS and the new HdUHB Arts in Health Team.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible to apply you will need to be a Wales based arts organisation working in one of the Arts Council of Wales’ recognised art forms listed here https://arts.wales/funding/help.

Due to the nature of the project HdUHB will expect you to provide evidence of up to date policies and procedures as part of the selection process.

HdUHB is looking for Expressions of Interest that meet the following criteria:

Offer a blend of regular face to face and/or remote creative activities for up to 30 CYP known to HdUHB sCAMHS by October 2022
Offer age appropriate creative activities for CYP aged between Year 6 and Year 11 (ages 11-16).
Be delivered across 2 seasons of work (Spring 2022 and Summer 2022)
Each season could take place over 8-10 week periods
Be designed to respond to the needs of the age and location of the CYP at the time of delivery.
Meet the changing restrictions of the pandemic
Be delivered bilingually if necessary
Be adaptable - Proposed activities should take place online but be able to move to in person if restrictions allow
Be accessible – work with HdUHB to ensure the diverse needs of each participant are met
Name artists that will deliver the activities and EOIs should provide further details of artists’ experience and expertise.

Arts organisations will need to:

Deliver high quality, engaging, safe and meaningful arts experiences for CYP known to HdUHB that meets the intended outcomes outlined below.
Deliver the agreed art provision for the CYP in line with local protocols and agreed procedures.
Maintain a duty of care to the patient and respect the CYP dignity and always act in a professional manner towards the child and family being aware of diversity and cultural beliefs.
Commit to the safety of the vulnerable participants identified through the preparation of Risk assessments and working within the HdUHB policy framework. HdUHB will expect arts organisations to have in place rigorous safeguarding, equality, inclusion and other policies that will need to be submitted if successful with this Expression of interest.
Participate in HdUHB arts induction and relevant training activities
Maintain all records in accordance with agreed local protocols and guidance.
Provide project administration – eg Sorting venues, commissioning and contracting individual artists, artists preparing reflection diaries,
Commit to evaluation and best practice by working with HdUHB staff to deliver on the evaluation plans for this project.
Commit to co-designing the programme
Commit to the sharing of outcomes
Document activity including capturing imagery, footage and creative outputs
Provide technical facilitation of online or offline workshop delivery

Expressions of interest should demonstrate an ability to achieve the following intended outcomes for both target groups of CYP:

Reduce psychological distress in vulnerable CYP.
Support self-management techniques.
Enable CYP to engage in arts as a process of creative expression through the process of building tangible forms of personally held thoughts and emotions.
Enable CYP to break down negatively held views and dismantle internally stored pain through the art techniques that involve destructive acts of tearing, cutting, destroying, as well as reforming and transforming previously created art.
Broaden the CYP’s toolbox for coping with negative experiences and developing new ways to understand the emotions that surface through difficult experiences.
Focus on the meditative aspect of creativity and help the CYP develop coping methods to help them reduce feelings of distress and encourage mindfulness and a sense of calm.
Promote resilience and coping skills and increase a sense of empowerment.
Enable CYP to share experiences with a goal toward increasing conversation with family members.
Create a safe space to allow for recovery to start.

CYP living with self-injurying behaviours, low mood and/or suicidal ideation:

Act as a distraction away from self-injury/suicidal rumination and become a more useful container for coping with painful emotions.
Create artwork that translates the pain, or the CYP can create art that introduces positive imagery that can combat the negative imagery they are holding inside.

CYP living with eating disorders:

Enable CYP to be able to communicate their eating disorder internal conflict to members of the group to ensure they feel safe and not alone.
Enable CYP to be able to discuss their anxiety and fear of their perceived imperfections and shared experiences.

The Hywel Dda teams will share a Commitment to evaluation, best practice and co-design of the programme and will be responsible for:

sCAMHs team will provide:

Nominated clinician
Liason with patients
Referrals, identifying patients, sharing info about patients
Informed consent
Links with Lived Experience Participation Forum

HdUHB Arts in health team:

Handling EOI, selection and contracting
Liason with artists
Commissioning photographer and film maker and support
Budget management
Artist liason, briefing, support, training and induction

Who is if for?

Up to 30 CYP known to sCAMHS with specified eating disorders and/or self-injurying behaviours/low mood/suicidal ideation will benefit. They will be referred into the project by sCAMHS case holders with the CYP’s informed consent.

Commitment to evaluation:

The pilot programme will have a rigorous evaluation model established. We are looking for arts organisations to support HDdUHB in the development of case studies that will help us to better understand and promote the impact the arts can have on improving mental health and reducing stress in our patients.

Standard Patient Reporting Outcome Measures (PROMS) will inform referrals and measure outcomes. Artist reflective diaries will also be required.

How to apply?

Please apply to Kathryn.lambert@wales.nhs.uk by sending your Expression of Interest of no more than 2 sides of A4 outlining your proposal and how is meets the requirements of the brief, along with your organisational CV and a short covering letter which explains why you would like to undertake this project.

Please also include links to previous examples of your work online, named artists and a proposed budget.

Selection criteria:

Successful applicants will be selected through demonstration of their aptitude against the following criteria:

Quality of the proposal and creative response to the brief
Artistic quality (Innovation, appropriateness, originality, relevance)
Experience working with health and wellbeing / community/participatory arts (particularly mental health)
Experience working with children and young people
Eligibility (Pass relevant checks with regards to policies and procedures)
Deliverability (Project plan and capacity to deliver).
Commitment to evaluation
Breadth of art form
Geographical distribution
Value for money

A shortlist of arts organisations will be invited to 2 interviews and for further information on their policies and procedures.

Interview 1 – Project Selection Panel

Interview 2 – CYP Participation Forum - made up of CYP with lived experience of eating disorders and self-injury.

Availability

The project will be delivered between January 2022 and September 2022, exact dates to be confirmed with successful applicants on recruitment.

Fees

Up to £8000 per commission based on a daily rate of £200 per day.

All fees are inclusive of VAT, travel expenses, material and access costs.

A payment schedule will be agreed on commencement of contract.

Please outline how you would intend to spend the £8000 budget.

Equality

Projects will comply with Equalities and Welsh Language Requirements and be designed to be accessible to all.

Safeguarding

The artist(s) or art group will be responsible for ensuring that all freelance artists and staff employed by the organisation (including themselves) have had an advanced CRB/DBS check on a minimum of a 3-yearly basis.

Insurance

Arts organisations should be covered by their own professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance of not less than £5m Public Liability and £11m Employers Liability.

Privacy Statement

HdUHB Arts in Health Team respect your privacy and protect all personal information you provide to us as part of your Expression of Interest. The information you provide will only be used by ourselves to correspond with as part of this application process.

Click here for full details of HdUHB’s Privacy notice.

If you wish to be kept up to date with other HdUHB Arts in Health opportunities and news, please let us know in your application. If you would like to discuss anything before applying email Hywel Dda Arts in Health Coordinator kathryn.lambert@wales.nhs.uk.