Turning your senses on: All Party Parliamentary Group - Young People, Co-production, Creativity & Mental Health Services

The Branching Out project was invited to open an All Party Parliamentary group discussing young people, co-production, Creativity and Mental Health services. Three children who had taken part in the project joined Ruth Sapsed (Director of CCI) and Paula Ayliffe (Co-Headteacher, Mayfield Primary) to share their thoughts on having time to make art outdoors. The children advocated passionately about the learning and wellbeing benefits of being creative outdoors:

“You can be with yourself, find a nice quiet spot and just relax.”

“Learning isn’t sitting in the classroom learning your 12 x 12, learning is discovery, finding out new things.”

“Outside the sky is open, there are trees, and if you have all of these senses on […] it’s so much more memorable, you are much more likely to remember and enjoy your experience.”

They also discussed how important the open-endedness of Artscaping was to finding their own creativity:

“They didn’t tell us what to make, or how to make it, they just said make some artwork with it.”

“You don’t need set rules, just a framework […] a loose structure to build on, you can then build around the structure.”

The session was virtual, with over 100 people tuning in to listen, who commented on how articulate the children were in discussing the benefits of this work and the impact it has had on their wellbeing.

Watch the video: