Charlotte Slinger, Community Projects Manager for Hampshire Cultural Trust, was invited to the House of Lords on Monday 25 February, along with Helen Dove from partner organisation Hampshire Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services to represent The ICE Project, their ambitious and innovative arts intervention programme, currently in its second year.
This visit was to contribute to a Round Table discussion of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, which focused on the role of arts and culture in supporting young people’s mental wellbeing.
Chaired by Rt Hon. Ed Vaizey MP, contributors to the discussion included Professor Prathiba Chitsabesan, Associate Director of Children and Young People’s Mental Health, NHS England, and representatives of Arts Council England and the Royal Society for Public Health. Participants included individual artists, teachers and practitioners involved in arts and wellbeing.
The group discussed the contribution that arts, culture and creativity can make to supporting children and young people’s mental health. Charlotte and Helen were pleased to invite Jen Tibbert to the discussion, a young person who has benefited from The ICE Project in the first two years of the programme. All three felt honoured to attend and to offer their views and experiences on the topic.
The discussion was prompted by the increase in mental and emotional disorders in young people and against a background of awareness of the risks to young people’s mental health from social media. A report from The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the use of social media and risks to young people’s mental health is expected soon.