Creative Links is a long-term Arts Health project working to promote positive mental health for those who suffer with or are recovering from mental ill health. These sessions have included participatory workshop schemes in painting, textiles, printmaking, photography, dance and creative writing alongside many others. Creative Links began in 2006 as part of an NHS social inclusion day services centre, The Bridge. The project was developed and delivered as a centre bound provision.
In the second year of delivery it became clear to The Bridge Centre and Bluestreak Arts that an exclusively centre based provision was not the most effective model for promoting the social inclusion aspects of the programme and in early 2008 Creative Links began to deliver workshops in community venues alongside the centre based provision. These sessions proved to be extremely effective at integrating the participants into social situations which would have usually been difficult for some of the participants to undertake such as travel on busses and being in new and possibly strange environments.
In 2009 funding was made available through Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust which provided Bluestreak Arts the opportunity to strengthen the Creative Links project and move into a more independent community based provision. April 2009 saw the launch of The Space and multi functional creative workshop and gallery facility.
Please check out The Space page for more information.