Plymouth Art Club’s Courageous Stories of Mental Health Recovery

What difficulties or challenges do our clients face?
What changes do we see in the participants’ journeys?
What kind of art projects do we make?
Do you need to be good at art to come to this club?

All these questions and more are answered in a new documentary. We Tell Your Story is a documentary series funded by the Plymouth Octopus Project, culminating in a major feature that premiered at Plymouth Arts Cinema on June 17, 2024. Directed by Drew Graves, this 36-minute film is a The Hundred Hands production, dedicated to highlighting Plymouth’s vibrant community stories.

The video production spanned two years and involved numerous local creators, from filmmakers to animators. Over 70 individuals were interviewed, capturing a diverse array of stories from across Plymouth. This initiative aims to elevate the profiles of various organisations through high-quality video formats, enabling them to reach new audiences.

The segment about Mindful Art Club CIC is about eight minutes long.

Watch now to find out:

Why is the peer support element of the group so important?
Why did Si Parnham (formerly of Colebrook SW) say it’s such an “inspiring” atmosphere?
How one woman found art club “accidentally” through The Sunflower Women’s Centre
And meet the gypsy artist made homeless when a rehab closed, and yet found a way to express his “demons”.

Watch now and let us know what you think in the comments.

Our Friday Art Group Has Moved

If you (or the people you work with) are free on Friday afternoons, we’d love you to join us in our new venue, Burgess Hall, behind the Unitarian Church in Plymouth city centre. Each 90 minute session includes five minutes of guided mindfulness, five minutes of mindful drawing, a simple art project, and the opportunity to chat and relax. These sessions are funded by our Crowdfunder campaign, but if you want to donate, to help us continue delivering our service for longer, you can easily do so online.

Book your free place now.

Burgess Hall is behind the Unitarian Church accessed from Catherine Street, (next to The Treasury bar and restaurant, on Royal Parade). The first session at the new place is at 1.00pm Friday 12th April 2024.

As a reminder, we also offer these free mindful art groups:

Mondays 1.00pm Sunflower Women’s Centre

Tuesdays 2.00pm Sunflower Women’s Centre

Thursdays 12.00pm The London Inn, Plympton

Fridays 10.00am Addiction Recovery at Leadworks

Fridays 1.00pm Mindful Art Club at Burgess Hall

New #MentalHealth Collaboration in #Plymouth

We are pleased to have been awarded funding from Plymouth Octopus Project to host a series of workshops at Moments Café, focusing on mental health and social isolation.

This project is a collaboration between Marbles Lost and Found CIC, Moments Café and Memory Matters Hub, and Mindful Art Club CIC. We aim to provide reliable, sensitive, and non-judgemental support to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and social isolation, and help people develop coping strategies for life’s challenges. Our project will give our participants the confidence, skills and support to improve their lives and be more connected to their community.

Moments Café, in New George Street, Plymouth, acts as a subconscious support network for a lot of people. The café attracts many people who are vulnerable, and they are supported through open conversations and a non-judgemental atmosphere.

Grass roots organisations like ours are essential for bringing our community together with no waiting lists and without finances being a barrier. We will all continue with our workshops, but will share information, best practice, and sign-post beneficiaries to each other’s groups. All three organisations share the same goals, and by coming together we will learn new skills and share knowledge to be able to improve our services and reach more people.

Read more: Mindful Marbles at Moments

Join our mailing list to be first to hear about the launch of this exciting new project.

Art Club Receives Funding Through the Health Lottery

A new mental health support group to help people struggling with, or recovering from, addiction is launching at Leadworks, in Stonehouse, near Plymouth city centre.

People’s Health Trust has invested in Mindful Art Club, using money raised by Health Lottery South West.

This money will be used to run a weekly art group that uses mindfulness, art, peer support and conversation to improve mental health and reduce social isolation. It follows on from a previous successful pilot project.

Emma Sprawson, director of Mindful Art Club, said: “We are very grateful for this funding which will help us to create a space which encourages connection and creativity.”

Starts: Friday October 6th 2023

Time: 10.00am – 11.30am

Location: Leadworks, 170 Rendle Street Stonehouse PL1 1TP

Even if you can’t decide whether you have a problem or not, you are welcome to come along. There is no art experience required! Friendly and informal. Just grab a coffee and join in.

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 will also be inviting some inspiring guest speakers to the groups to talk about their experience of recovery.

To book a free place in this new mindful art group click here: Recovery Art Group.

Mindful Art Club Reaches Crowdfunding Target

We’re so happy to announce that we have reached our target on our Crowdfunder; in fact we went over our target. We have raised £10,575 to keep running our mindful art mental health support group at Moments Café in Plymouth city centre.

We had an anonymous donor pledge £5000, and also Plymouth City Council pledged £3,500. This means we can keep offering free mental health support without a waiting list every Friday. Here’s what some of our art group members said about this news on Facebook:

“I really like this group. It means a lot to me. It feels like a safe space. The other people are very welcoming. I love the different art that we do. Emma and Peggy are always coming up with new ideas that can be done in the session.

I also like the format of the group where we have a weekly check in, then do some mindfulness grounding and then maybe some closed eye, mindful drawing, one of my faves. We also have a check out at the end too. I’ve made some good connections from coming to the group and for me it’s a lovely way to end my week. I’ve really missed it when it hasn’t been running.” – Art club member

“It’s given us as a family much needed social interaction, no longer so isolated feeling alone. To know there are others who can empathise, because I thought I must be truly alone in my experiences is very reassuring. Everyone has been so kind. Love the checking in and out, making time for everyone, enjoy the art projects and taking them home to reflect upon or expand, closed eye drawing is very interesting. We had a lovely time at the mindful retreat day too, it’s all been such a positive experience I’m very grateful to have been signposted to such a wonderful resource.” – Art club member

“Mindful Art Club is my anchor in the storms of life. I love everything about it and never regret going, even when I’m feeling rubbish. I always leave feeling better than when I arrived. It feeds my soul. Can’t wait till we start again in September!” – Art club member

Thank You

We just want to give a big shout-out to thank everyone who donated over the last five weeks, it’s been an absolutely amazing response. And with more donations we could continue to run our weekly group for even longer, providing an ongoing safe space for people to access support.

Donate to our Crowdfunder here.

Book your place at the Friday afternoon art group here.

Jack Leslie Campaign Donates to Art Club

The Jack Leslie Campaign have recently auctioned a piece of artwork and raised £300 to split between their campaign, and Mindful Art Club.

The Jack Leslie Campaign raised funds for a statue to honour the Plymouth Argyle footballer denied an England cap in 1925, just because he was black. The statue was unveiled on Friday 7th October 2022. Campaign founders, Matt Tiller and Greg Foxsmith, continue to promote and share Jack’s story by taking it into schools and organisations. Matt Tiller (pictured with Peggy and Emma) gave an informal talk at Mindful Art Club in December 2022 while the art group created some Jack Leslie themed artwork.

Read more about The Jack Leslie Campaign.

At a recent auction, Guardian cartoonist, David Squires, cartoon raised £300 and the proceeds were split between The Jack Leslie Campaign, and Mindful Art Club.

See the cartoon here: Plymouth Argyle’s Jack Leslie – a true football pioneer

This generous donation from The Jack Leslie Campaign will help to boost our Crowdfunder, which is raising funds to provide weekly mental health support groups at Moments Cafe in Plymouth City Centre, starting in September this year.

Mindful Art Club was set up to support adults towards emotional, social, physical and mental health and wellbeing. We are immensely grateful for any donation, no matter how big or small that lets us continue our valuable service.

Plymouth Support Group Launches Crowdfunder (BBC Radio interview)

Peggy Melmoth and Kerry Evans were up super-early to appear on the breakfast show at BBC Radio Devon, on Sunday 30th July 2023. Watch and listen now to see pictures of them in the studio.

We need your help to help to raise funds to carry on a weekly support group at Moments Café in Plymouth’s city centre. After three years of experience, we know there are tools to increase emotional resilience, make friends, cope with difficult feelings and live happier lives. We want to share this knowledge with as many people as possible and be a positive force for good in a world that can seem overwhelming. With your support, our service can help anyone who is struggling to recover and thrive. One in four of us experience a mental health problem in any given year, so creating stigma-free spaces which offer community connection, reflection and creativity has never felt so important. – Peggy, Emma and Kerry.

Click here now to see our Crowdfunder rewards.

Kerry’s Head Shave Raises Vital Funds for Mental Health Art Group

Plymouth mum, Kerry Evans, has had her long hair shaved off to raise £470 towards Mindful Art Club’s Crowdfunding project. We are aiming to raise £7,000 to continue the Friday support group at Moments Cafe in Plymouth. There’s a cool little video too, to explain where the money goes!

Visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mindfulartclub

Plymouth Mum Braves the Shave

A Plymouth mum has ‘braved the shave’ to support her local community art group.

On Friday July 14^th July Kerry Evans, had her hair shaved off in front of a live audience at a comedy and music event in Stonehouse. The Storytelling Collective gig was funded by Plymouth Octopus Project.

Mindful Art Club offers free mental health support groups using mindfulness, art and conversation in various venues around Plymouth. Kerry first discovered Mindful Art Club at The Sunflower Women’s Centre, where she found it helped her with her anxiety, depression and social isolation.

Kerry said, “An absolutely fantastic entertaining night. I love my new hair-cut and I am so proud to be able to raise money for Mindful Art Club. I was nervous, but with friends and family around me I had the courage, and felt at ease with the hairdresser, Linda Smith-Wightman. Thank you Linda, you’re amazing. I had an amazing night; thank you for all your support and donations. I’ve raised £470 which is absolutely amazing.”

Visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mindfulartclub

Research Shows Health and Social Benefits of Mindful Art Club

A recent research study has revealed significant social benefits, and improvements to mental health, can be measured in those attending a community art group. The research was led by Dr Helen Lloyd, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, in collaboration with two researchers; Abbie Scott BSc, and Rachel Mullee BSc. The research project was co-designed by a committee which included art club participants, art club volunteers, and the Mindful Art Club directors Peggy Melmoth and Emma Sprawson.

The study found that our creative activities provide a distraction from negative thoughts and social anxiety. Our art encourages ‘flow’- a relaxing empowering experience- and attending Mindful Art Club can boost confidence and self-esteem while reducing social isolation.

Read the full story in the Central & Waterfront edition of The Plymouth Chronicle for August 2023.

Help us reach our target of helping more people in Plymouth with their mental health. Support Mindful Art Club’s Crowdfunder.

We Got a Magic Little Grant!

We are pleased to have been awarded £500 towards a Mindful Art Club for older people. The funding for this Magic Little Grant has been provided by Localgiving in partnership with the Postcode Local Trust, a grant giving organisation funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

This will help us with the cost of running our Thursday group at The London Inn, Church Road, Plympton. This group meets weekly at midday for coffee, creativity and company. Our aim is to improve mental health and reduce social isolation.