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February 23, 2023February 23, 2023

Devon Mental Health Alliance Supports Art Club

New funding from Devon Mental Health Alliance will support Peggy and Emma to continue delivering a popular weekly Mindful Art Club group at Moments Cafe in Plymouth city centre, every Friday from 1pm to 3pm, for the next six months. This group is open to anyone who is looking for support for their mental health and/or suffering from social isolation. Read more:

We’re supporting Mindful Art Club to run more groups with the Innovation Fund

Book your place at the Friday group: Moments Cafe

January 16, 2023August 28, 2025

Arygle Community Enjoy Mindful Art

Did you know you can boost mental health and wellbeing in your organisation by booking a one off mindful art session or a six week course for your employees or service users?

We recently hosted a lively art session for Plymouth Argyle Football Club Community Trust, where everyone enjoyed a lot of talking and laughter, while creating art inspired by The Jack Leslie Campaign. The campaign recently raised funds for a statue to honour the Argyle footballer denied an England cap in 1925, just because he was black. Pictures in a souvenir match day programme brought Jack’s story to life (programme available here), and then we drew zen doodles inside a football, and coloured in an image of Jack Leslie.

We used a visual mood scale to evaluate our impact, and 98% of the participants said they felt happier after the session.

David said, “I have enjoyed the meeting with the Mindful Art Club and they have shown a great deal of empathy in their conversations.”

Rose said, “I found this session enjoyable and relaxing . The colouring in reminded me of my years as a teaching assistant. It was well lead.”

We have previously delivered a mindful art session to some premiership match officials. Dr Liam Slack, Chartered Sport Psychologist at PGMOL said,

“Peggy and Emma at Mindful Art were really pleasant and made everyone on the mindfulness session feel comfortable. They delivered a session that was really easy to take part and was enjoyable for all. I believe mindfulness art has a positive impact in promoting good mental health.“

Get your free printable: Jack Leslie colouring page.

Matt Tiller, co-founder of The Jack Leslie Campaign, pictured with Peggy and Emma.

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022

How to Reduce Stress With This Surprisingly Easy Technique

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December 22, 2022December 22, 2022

Book Now: Free Online Course

Bookings close on 12th Jan 2023 at 9am

Want to learn to practice relaxation exercises, and art for self-care?

We are looking forward to working with Devon Recovery Learning Community in 2023 to deliver a six week course, on Zoom.

This recovery college is provided by Devon Partnership NHS Trust to support mental health and wellbeing. Their students are people with experience of mental health difficulties, their family and friends, and the professionals who support them.

Each session of our new course includes five minutes of guided mindfulness, five minutes of mindful drawing, a simple art project, and the opportunity to chat and relax.

‘Doodle Your Recovery’ gives people the opportunity to share their feelings, practice mindfulness, create art, relax and chat. This course:

Improves mental health
Improves social connection
Teaches new skills (relaxation exercises and art for self- care)

We start with a ‘check in’ to see how everyone is feeling. There is no obligation to speak if you don’t want to. This is followed by some guided mindfulness, then a simple art project e.g. drawing Zentangles or paisley, or making a greetings card.

We end the group with a ‘check out’ to share how everyone is feeling after practicing mindfulness and making art.

This 6 week, online course starts on Monday 16th January 2023

Bookings close on 12th Jan 2023 at 9am

Places are limited. Book early to avoid disappointment: Doodle Your Recovery Online.

December 14, 2022December 14, 2022

Art Makes a Big Difference in Plymouth

We regularly collect feedback from our art club participants to check that we are making a difference in our community. We are also working with a research team at Plymouth University to measure the difference we make.

“Mindful art group is a safe place to come. You can offload and are not judged, you can enter feeling down and alone, and leave knowing you have the groups support and empathy” – Karen.

“On my first visit to the group, I felt it was very welcoming. I found the groups activities interesting and will be coming regularly to your meetings. I have a big problem with large groups of people. I would normally say nothing as I would feel stupid. But not in this case. Thanks.” – Carole.

“It’s great that we meet regularly and check in with how we are all feeling. I feel like we are all responsible for each other – a space where we can talk, release, cry, laugh and our emotions are held by each other. I feel like ‘It’s OK, these people are here for me’. Whether you are a sociable person with lots of friends or alone in the world, there’s a group of people every week ready to listen and support me. It’s a great balance of mindfulness and creativity, for everyone, no matter what your experience is – we’re not artists by any means – just people coming together to be creative and peaceful.” – Erica.

If you’d like to boost mental health in your treatment service, support service, workplace or residential home we offer groups on line, one-off sample sessions, and a six week wellbeing programme. We also offer an outdoor mindful art retreat as a staff away day.

While watching the FIFA World Cup recently you may have realised how stressful it is to be a football referee. That’s why we were happy to provide an online session for a group of premiership referees.

Peggy and Emma at Mindful Art were really pleasant and made everyone on the mindfulness session feel comfortable. They delivered a session that was really easy to take part and was enjoyable for all. I believe Mindfulness Art has a positive impact in promoting good Mental Health.
Dr Liam Slack, Chartered Sport Psychologist, PGMOL

Find out more about booking a session.

December 8, 2022December 8, 2022

How to Get News From the Devon Mental Health Alliance

We were pleased to meet with Tom Cox from the Devon Mental Health Alliance recently, to find out about the work that they do, and share with him our own work at Mindful Art Club.

The Devon Mental Health Alliance (DMHA) is a partnership between six organisations dedicated to providing support for people experiencing challenges with their mental health. The goal of the Alliance is to improve access to services and identify new opportunities to support people across all of Devon’s communities, using a collaborative approach that reaches across and brings together partners from the statutory, voluntary and community sectors.

The Devon Mental Health Alliance blog features regular articles about organisations working in Devon who are supporting mental health. Did you see the one about Nicky from Marbles Lost and Found CIC? Sign up to their newsletter today and you will soon see an article appearing about Mindful Art Club! Sign up now.

November 30, 2022November 20, 2022

Groups Cancelled: 9th December

We will be out of office on Friday 9th December, attending a funeral. The following groups will not take place:

10.00am Sunflower Womens’ Centre

1.00pm Moments Cafe

Groups will be back running again as usual next week.

Peggy and Emma

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022

Gibbons Foundation Funds Women’s Art Group

We are pleased to have been granted new funding to offer mindful art sessions to any Plymouth woman in need of support.

This funding will allow us to deliver 26 weekly mindful art groups at The Sunflower Women’s Centre. The issues being tackled are social isolation and poor mental health. We address these problems by using creative activities to make it easier for clients to engage in meaningful conversations.

The Sunflower is a trauma-informed women’s wellbeing hub, providing opportunities for any woman who has support needs. Women receive support in addressing and resolving substance abuse, childhood trauma, criminogenic behaviours, domestic violence or poor mental health. The centre offers a range of therapeutic activities, accredited programmes and practical support in a safe, nurturing, substance-free and valuing space for women to move from their pasts, develop their skills, regain their self-worth and go on to flourish and thrive. The Sunflower Centre has over 700 registered service users.

Mindful Art Club will offer these women peer support for common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. New friendships are formed in our groups which combat social isolation, and we will also teach new skills such as how to use mindfulness and art for self care.

If you’d like a place you will need to register with The Sunflower Women’s Centre and ask to be added to the waiting list for Mindful Art Club. You can leave a message at 01752 977614 .

“I have found this group very helpful in my recovery. My biggest problem is ISOLATION. So to have this group is a lifeline. I also struggle with substance misuse, although, (thanks to help), I am clean and sober. It is nice to have a space that is non-judgmental where we can check in and connect.
I love art anyway, and find it very relaxing and engaging. But it’s so much more therapeutic to do it with others. Many thanks.”
Anna (Shared with permission).

November 28, 2022November 28, 2022

Christmas Online Art Club

The return of our online art club in October and November was a great success.

This is a supportive, monthly, online session offering creativity and good company: A short mindful meditation and an easy art project.

Tuesday December 20th 7.00pm – 8.00pm

Early bird tickets are available at just £5.00 until seven days before the event – after that the full price is £6.50.

“I really enjoyed tonight’s session. Thanks very much. Lovely to see some familiar faces and meet some new people.”
Linda

Connect with others, and discover new ways of practising self-care through easy art and mindfulness exercises. Practice being here in the present moment, and accept where you are right now, without self-judgement.

We start with a brief chat about how everyone is feeling*, then a short guided mindfulness session, followed by a simple art activity that anyone can do. We offer a different art project each session. Our mission is to make mindfulness more fun! We’re not teaching art techniques, we’re just here to play. (*You don’t have to speak if you don’t want to.)

“Thank you so much for bringing back mindful art online. I’m going through a lot at the moment and would have spent tonight in tears if it wasn’t for you guys, but instead did something productive and calming.”
Becky

You will need some felt tip pens, some plain paper and an (optional) cup of tea or coffee.

You will also need to download Zoom, free video-conferencing software, to your computer, tablet or smart phone, before the day. https://zoom.us

After payment you will receive an email from Eventbrite saying, “Check the event page for all the information you need to join.” The link in that email will take you to a page with the Zoom invite. *Check your spam folder, notifications folder or promotions tab for the email!*

Ticket sales end 10 minutes before the event starts.

Early bird tickets are available at just £5.00 until 12th December – after that the full price is £6.50.

Book your place at our online art club now.

“Thank you Peggy and Emma for being back online!”
Debby

Don’t miss out. Join our Facebook group for more special events and offers https://www.facebook.com/groups/MindfulArtClub

Not ready to join us online? Download free mindful art activities instead.

Author: Peggy Melmoth