“If my kids weren’t doing this, they’d be on the streets” - Parent
Six Ways to Wellbeing Swale saw Ideas Test and Swale CVS work in partnership to raise awareness of the Six Ways to Wellbeing in the most deprived areas of Kent. This partnership supported smaller arts organisations to give the young people a range of quality activities.
"Wellbeing to me means being active, keeping fit, going out and meeting people" - YP
Ideas Test were able to reach over 3,250 local residents by attending 5 large scale summer events to promote the Six Ways to Wellbeing and their arts programme. Further promotion was done through a ‘crowd sourced’ poem coordinated by poet Dan Simpson, with the community nominating words to include via social media.
"Seeing some of those young people smile by the end of the session and the positive impact on their wellbeing through their participation was very rewarding" – Jasmin Vardimon
"The young people we worked with were fab. They...gave us a level of trust and commitment that was fantastic" – Viola Films
Young people were given the opportunity to attend 10 taster sessions, focusing on exploring the Six Ways to Wellbeing through dance, singing/drumming, spoken word, film making and creative technology. These taster sessions later developed into 24 workshops with 219 attendances.
Finally, they put on a sharing event at the Avenue Theatre in Sittingbourne to showcase the work produced during the workshops. Some of the most highly commended work can be found below.
The workshops encouraged young people to become more self-aware and expressive about their emotional experiences. Through becoming a Wellbeing Champion, the young people were able to learn skills and grow in confidence, whilst raising awareness of the Six Ways to Wellbeing within the wider community. 20 young people also worked towards achieving an Arts Award.
Ideas Test recognised that many of the six ways elements are naturally embedded within arts practice. Therefore, offering activities which they found stimulating and interesting ensured they were automatically learning about the Six Ways to Wellbeing.