Looking back on a four year project
We aren't sitting around, waiting for the system to change, anymore; we are rising up and fighting for the mental health care we deserve. This is why this project and others like it are so important. This is how we make change.
There are over 2.8 million children and young people living in London. There is a rising mental health crisis, seeing children and young people waiting extraordinary lengths of time to access the support they need, and often finding it inadequate to the needs they have.
Thriving through Culture was an action research project established by Mayor of London, in partnership with Thrive LDN and co-funded by Baring Foundation, 2021-2024. It focused on spotlighting young people’s voices, guided by artists with lived experience. The different strands of the project explored creative solutions to supporting young people’s mental health through culture.
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A manifesto for 2.8 Million Minds
Young people are really angry. They feel let down… [this project] is about creating spaces where they can be angry. They can make art about that. Their rage is valid. They are allowed to feel that, and we have to hold that for them... They also want to be in spaces that validate their experience so that they can be with other young people and talk about what they have been through, they can write about it, they can do illustrations…I see you; I hear you; I have also been through that.
How can young people use art and culture to create change in their mental health, and change how mental health care is imagined, delivered, and funded?
Three groups of young people worked with artists Mad Love, Becky Warnock, Tyreis Holder, Yomi Ṣode and Simon Tomlinson, to imagine new approaches and centering creativity in mental health support.
They developed a manifesto, which advocates for creative space for young people to become leaders in mental health. They explored pathways for healing, through training, policy, strategy and advocacy to help advise and imagine simpler pathways for young people to access mental health services, art spaces and more.
Call to action
To mark the culmination of the project, Thrive LDN produced a report bringing together all the activity across the project, together with recommendations for next steps.
This report is a call to action, whether at local, sub-regional, or citywide level. It is a call upon organisations across London to join us in building a city where every young person has access to the support and opportunities they deserve, and which meet their needs. Together we can create a London where creativity is celebrated, where young people's voices are heard, and mental health is prioritised. This report shows us how.
Thrive LDN are calling for everyone across the culture, health and care sector to get involved and build a systemic approach to embedding young-Londoner led voices into policy, action and improvements in London.
Thrive LDN are calling for:
1. Funders and policymakers to prioritise investments in preventative mental health initiatives for young people that focus on addressing the underlying social determinants of health, such as poverty, housing instability, discrimination, and access to education.
2. Collective responsibility to create a system where everyone’s voice is heard and valued. This includes sustainable funding and support for artists with lived experience of mental health to create safe, accessible spaces for children and young people to express themselves through art and creativity.
3. An increase in Youth Participation in Decision-Making: Opportunities for young Londoners to speak directly to policy makers about the importance of creative approaches to support their mental health and wellbeing.