Kent Arts and Wellbeing have been running arts for wellbeing courses for 4 years under contracts with Involve Kent. This has been part of the Universal Wellbeing Contract with KCC, which sadly is subject to significant funding cuts which put this and scores of other wellbeing activities at risk.
We have run courses both in Maidstone and Gravesham, located in areas of high relative deprivation. During this period we have run around 30 courses of between 10 and 12 weeks duration involving over 300 participants.
Participants have had a variety of needs, some enjoyed a good level of wellbeing and were just looking to maintain it. Many however were lonely, some with high anxiety levels . The feedback and the scores on the wellbeing scales showed that the activity improved self confidence, and a sense of wellbeing . Indeed the improvement showed a potential return on social investment based on improvement in wellbeing years that significantly outweighed the cost.
This improvement is directly due to the professionalism of our tutors Christie Grant and Mona Whitton Their contribution was consistently recognised by participants.
We hope that in spite of a new approach being adopted from April, we are able to continue to support those most in need and use the skills of our tutors to continue to help make a difference. We aim to work with Involve to make that possible.
Ken Scott, Director.
