New Location: Plympton

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with The London Inn, Plympton. This sixteenth century pub offers live music, a beer garden in summer and cosy real fires in the winter.

Learn to practice mindfulness and art for self-care at The London Inn in Plympton St Maurice, starting Thursday 7th July 2022. Each session includes five minutes of guided mindfulness, five minutes of mindful drawing, a simple art project, and the opportunity to chat and relax.

Come along and grab a coffee or tea, and a cake. The group starts at 12.00pm and lasts for an hour and a half. We currently have charitable funding from The Livewell Foundation to make this group free to participants.

(Update, July 2023: We do not currently have charitable funding for this group, so it is now offered to the community as a voluntary service.)

This weekly art group gives people the opportunity to share their feelings, practice mindfulness, create art, relax and chat. Mindful Art Club:

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

Send us a message now to book your place in this friendly, fun new group.

Find us at:

The London Inn, 8 Church Road, Plymouth, PL7 1NH.

Due to the age of this historic building the lounge bar and toilets are not accessible to wheelchair users. (However, some wheelchairs are able to access the public bar area.) As an alternative we offer a number of other art groups in Plymouth and online.  

Please contact The London Inn if you have any accessibility enquiries.

There is on street parking in George  Lane and the nearest bus route is 21A. Alight at Longcause.

Last Chance: Evening Wellbeing Course

Do you suffer from stress or worry?

Want to practice art for self-care?

Looking for a fun and easy way to learn mindfulness?

Limited tickets still available for our next eight-week Mindful Art Wellbeing Course.

The next course begins on Monday 9th May 2022 and will be at The Unitarian Church Hall in Notte Street, Plymouth city centre. Places are limited so it will be first-come, first-served.

This wellbeing course will be hosted by Emma Sprawson and Lee Squires. Lee will be offering ten minutes of Qi Gong at the beginning of the session.

Read more: Mindful Art Wellbeing Course – with Qi Gong

New Course: Devon Mind

Learn to practice relaxation exercises and art for self-care in May at Devon Mind’s new offices in Plymouth city centre. This free, six week course is starting on 23rd May 2022 but places are limited.

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

Create Your Recovery is a six week course giving people the opportunity to share their feelings, practice mindfulness, create art, relax and chat, it also:

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

We are Devon Mind, your local mental health charity. We’ve been fighting for mental health in Devon for over 35 years with our campaigning and support services.

DevonMind.com

Like all local Minds, they are an independent charity affiliated with the national Mind association.

Devon Mind’s recovery courses and workshops are all designed to support you to develop positive lifestyles and choices. Visit their website for details on how to book your place on Create Your Recovery

To get a reminder about this course and other Mindful Art Club events in the future sign up to our mailing list.

Art Without Self-Judgement

We recently received this great feedback via LinkedIn.

Well done on setting up such an amazing project. I’ve been to a couple of sessions and found them to be really friendly, fun, informative and relaxing and it really helped me deal with my anxiety. The way you run them allowed me to have a go at art and leave behind the self criticism that so often affects me. The great thing about it is you’re giving people ideas that they can take away with them and continue at home. A big thank you Peggy and Emma, I wish you every success in the future.

Mel
Peggy's art work

Book Now: Evening Wellbeing Course

Do you suffer from stress or worry?

Want to practice art for self-care?

Looking for a fun and easy way to learn mindfulness?

Tickets are now available for our next eight-week Mindful Art Wellbeing Course.

The next course begins on Monday 9th May 2022 and will be at a venue in Plymouth city centre. Places are limited so it will be first-come, first-served.

Taster Session: Monday 28th March 2022 Read more.

This wellbeing course will be hosted by Emma Sprawson and Lee Squires. Lee will be offering ten minutes of Qi Gong at the beginning of the session.

Read more: Mindful Art Wellbeing Course – with Qi Gong

Brene Brown: Connection and Belonging

At the moment I’m listening to Brene Brown’s audio book, ‘Daring Greatly.’ Brené Brown is an American research professor, lecturer, author, and podcast host, known for her research on shame, vulnerability, and leadership. She became famous in 2010 for her TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability.

In ‘Daring Greatly’ she says that if we want to fully experience love and belonging we must believe that we are worthy of love and belonging. I thought that her definitions of connection and belonging really describe what happens at Mindful Art Club.

Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued. When they can give and receive without judgement. Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal we often try to acquire it by fitting in and seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for belonging but often barriers to it. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.

Brene Brown, ‘Daring Greatly’.

Join the Mindful Art Club newsletter now to develop a greater sense of connection and belonging!

Lord Mayor Visits Mindful Art Club

On Friday 4th March 2022 The Lord Mayor and Consort visited our weekly art group, held upstairs in Moments Cafe, in Plymouth City Centre.

It was a pleasure to meet The Lord Mayor Mrs Terri Beer, and Consort, Mr Colin Beer, who joined us for coffee and a chat, and then took part in the mindful art session, with ten other participants.

The session included a check-in, guided mindfulness, mindful art, and then a simple art project, with the opportunity to chat and relax. The Mayor and Consort engaged in the group discussions and enjoyed the activities.

Terri Beer was born and raised in Plymouth and has lived in the city all her life.  She was educated at St. Maurice Primary School and Plympton Secondary Modern School (now Plympton Academy). Our very first Mindful Art Club was founded in Plympton and still takes place at The Brook Inn on Thursdays. Mindful Art Club has now grown to offer sessions in community services all over Plymouth. We also offer one day retreats, staff wellbeing sessions and evening classes.

Join our club by signing up here to find out what we offer in your area.

Plympton Art Course Improves Mental Health

We recently offered a six week course at Plympton Guildhall, called ‘Doodle Your Recovery’ – thanks to funding from Devon Recovery Learning Community.

Initial feedback indicates that one hundred percent of the participants enjoyed the course. When asked what they had learned on the course people wrote:

  • To relax and just let creativity flow
  • Mindfulness
  • To breathe better
  • Empathy
  • To give time to myself
  • Communication
  • How to think of myself as well as others
  • To not dwell on problems so much
  • To express feelings through art
  • That I am not alone and it’s OK to feel how I feel

Some suggestions to make the course better included:

  • Maybe more meditation
  • Qi Gong
  • Name badges
  • Increase it to two hours, with a break

One hundred percent of survey respondents said they would recommend the course to other people.

If you would like to try using creativity to improve your mental health we will be at The Brook Inn, 33 Longbrook Street, Plympton, PL7 1NJ from Thursday 3rd March 2022.

[Pictures] Art at Plympton Guildhall

We started the New Year in a new venue: The historic Guildhall in Plympton St Maurice.

Doodle your Recovery is a six week course giving people the opportunity to share their feelings, practice mindfulness, create art, relax and chat.

This course is free to attend thanks to funding from Devon Recovery Learning Community. DRLC is a recovery college provided by Devon Partnership NHS Trust to promote mental health and wellbeing. Their students are people with lived experience of mental health difficulties, their family and friends, and the professionals who support them.

Missed enrolment for this six week course? Join our mailing list and get free colouring pages to use at home, and news of our next free mindful art events in the Plymouth area.



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