This course explores the role art and museums can have on mental wellbeing and recovery. Being exposed to art and museums can help us to feel more rounded, balanced and self-aware. Art and museums are a medium that can encourage and support the best sides of human nature in what is sometimes a noisy and distracted world. Art and museums can act as a source of support for our mental wellbeing and encouragement for our recovery.
There is emerging evidence that accessing art and museums have positive health and wellbeing outcomes for people, including around mental health. They play a role in helping people to stay well and recover faster. In 2014 NHS England published the Five Year Forward View, arguing that the nation needs to take health prevention seriously. The arts have a significant role to play in the prevention agenda, often through social inclusion and preventing feelings of isolation (Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing).
This course will take approximately 2 to 3 hours to complete, but this timing will depend on how fast you read and how long you spend on the reflective questions. You do not need to complete the whole course in one go. If you leave and come back to the course it will remember where you got up to.