Reading & Resources

This page includes my selected (1) key resources, (2) further links, and (3) books, on the topics of arts and health, children and young people’ mental health,
dementia, bipolar disorders, and music.

You can access an archive of monthly resources shared with Arts, Culture and Mental Health Ambassadors, as part of the GM i-THRIVE for systems change in children’s services. Become an Ambassador.

Key Reading

Fancourt, D. & Finn, S. (2019) What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and wellbeing? A scoping review. World Health Organisation.

Ministry of Education & Culture and Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Finland (2019) Recommendation for Improving the Availability and Accessibility of the Arts and Culture in Social Welfare and Healthcare, including health promotion

Taylor, K. (2018) Art Thou Well: Towards Creative Devolution of Mental Health in Greater Manchester. Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing. (2017) Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing
The Short Report.

Fancourt, D. Arts in Health (2017). Oxford University Press.

Gordon-Nesbitt, R. (2015) Exploring the Longitudinal Relationship Between Arts Engagement and Health. Arts for Health, MMU.

Wilkinson, R. & Pickett, K. (2009). The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London: Allen Lane

Arts and Health Resources

Arts for Health (Manchester Metropolitan University) Director Clive Parkinson’s weekly blog rounds up the latest news and opportunities: http://www.artsforhealth.org/

The Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance

The Manchester Institute for Arts, Health and Social Change

Dementia and Imagination: Research Informed Approaches to Visual Arts Programmes

Center for Arts in Medicine provide a comprehensive Research Database

The Art of Wellness: online course on Visual Arts and Health

Nous Magazine for mind: cultural and empathic thinking.

Hoax, a trilogy of artworks telling the true story of a young man from Manchester, his poetry, life and death. In 2014 the award-winning stage musical HOAX My Lonely Heart and graphic novel HOAX: Psychosis Blues launched. In collaboration with the Psychosis Research Unit, Manchester

Further Links

Child & young people’s mental health

Children & Young People’s Mental Health Coalition: Helpful information and resources during Covid-19

Children & Young People’s Evidence Bank: a collection of direct quotes from children & young people on a diverse range of subjects.

GMiTHRIVE website

National THRIVE Team at the Anna Freud Centre

The Baring Foundation: Creatively Minded and Young
A selection of arts and mental health projects with, by and for children and young people.

Fonagy, Peter (2020) On a revolution in mental healthcare. The Life Scientific, BBC Radio 4.

Dementia and the arts

Dementia and Imagination
Investigating how can art make a difference to people with dementia and their families carers and communities.

Combining Daycare for Children and Elderly People Benefits All Generations: The Conversation

Forgetting But Not Gone: Dementia and the Arts Science and Technology, the Guardian, on the Wellcome Trust Hub project Created Out Of Mind.

Online Resources

Case studies: How can the arts and creativity support people who are shielding or vulnerable during Covid-19?
Case studies from the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance on Greater Manchester’s two Creative Care Kits, distributed in response to the pandemic.

Cooke, A. (Ed). (2014). Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia: Why people sometimes hear voices believe things that others find strange, or appear out of touch with reality, and what can help. A report by the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology.

Understanding Bipolar Disorder a useful research-based report from the British Psychological Society

For a large programme of leading research in bipolar disorder visit The Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research at Lancaster University

Books

Arts and Health/Wellbeing

Read, Herbert (1943) Art As Education. Faber and Faber, London.

Koestler, Arthur (1964) The Act of Creation. Hutchinson & Co. London.

Berger, J. (1972) Ways Of Seeing. Penguin Books London.

Malchodi, C (ed) (2005) Expressive Therapies. Guilford Press, New York

Baker, Bobby (2010) Diary Drawings. Profile Books London.

Tischler, V (2010) Mental Health, Psychiatry and the Arts: A Teaching Handbook. Radcliffe Publishing Ltd.

De Botton, A., & Armstrong, J. (2016) Art As Therapy. Phaidon Press.

Arts and Dementia

Bartlett, R. (2010) Broadening the Dementia Debate: Towards Social Citizenship The Policy Press Bristol.

Killick, J. & Craig, C. (2012) Creativity and Communication in Persons with Dementia: A Practical Guide Jessica Kingsley Publishers London.

Killick, J., Allan, K., Lang, R., Zoutewell-Morris, S., Hodge, N., Cameron, I. (2012) Playfulness in Dementia: A Practical Guide Jessica Kingsley Publishers London & Philadelphia.

Kitwood, T. (1997) Dementia Reconsidered: The Person Comes First Open University Press Philadelphia.

Rosenberg, Parsa, Humble, & McGee (2009) Meet Me: Making Art Accessible to People with Dementia The Museum of Modern Art New York.

Bipolar Disorders

Caramangno, Thomas C. (1992) The Flight of The Mind: Virgina Woolf’s Manic Depressive Illness University of California Press.

Fieve, Ronald R. (2006) Bipolar II Holtzbrinck Publishers.

Jamison, Kay Redfield (1995) An Unquiet Mind Picador Classics London, New York, Canada.

Jamison, Kay Redfield (1992) Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament Free Press Paperbacks.

Jones, S., Haywood, P. & Lamb, D.(2002) Coping With Bipolar Disorder Oneworld Oxford.

Whybrow, Peter C. (1995 & 2015) A Mood Apart Original Henry Holt. New Edition Basic Books

Selected Psychology Reads

Cahalan, S. (2020) The Great Pretender. Grand Central Publishing.

Pollen, M. How To Change Your Mind: What The New Science of Psychedelics: Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Trancendence (2018) Allen Lane.

Kinderman, P. (2014). A prescription for psychiatry. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bentall, R.P. (2003) Madness Explained Penguin Books London.