Creative health belongs in more of your work than you think.
This playbook offers practical guidance for mayoral and strategic authorities on using arts, culture and creative practice to improve health and reduce inequalities — across housing, skills, planning, transport and public service reform.
1. By policy area
Go straight to the briefing, case studies and evidence for your remit.
2. By task
Jump to the tools, guidance and examples for the job in front of you.
3. New to creative health
An introduction: what it is, why it connects to the health improvement duty, and what good looks like in practice.
What is creative health?
Creative health is a way of thinking and working that recognises and harnesses the contribution of creativity, culture and heritage to improving health and wellbeing and increasing health equity. It is both a field of practice and an approach to addressing health challenges, drawing on the strengths of individuals, communities, cultural organisations and places to support better health outcomes.
Featured Case Studies
Evidence, policy briefings and practical examples for the teams shaping housing, skills, planning, transport and public service reform.
Creative practice in employment support
Case study · Greater Manchester
Project supporting unemployed adults to build confidence, wellbeing and skills for progression into volunteering, employment or education.
Improving trauma informed care through creativity
Case study · North East
Aiming to understand how a better model of trauma informed care, which includes creativity, could be implemented in non-clinical settings.
Supporting recovery addicts through theatre
Case study · Greater London
Encourage service-users to develop healthy habits, discover new talents and reclaim centre stage in their own lives.
How to use the Playbook
You do not need to read the Playbook from beginning to end. Dip in wherever is most useful to you, whether that is a question you are exploring, a challenge you are working on, a policy area of interest, or an example you want to learn from. Each section is designed to help you move between background information, practical ideas, briefing notes, case studies, and additional resources.
Browse the sections that are most relevant to your role, priorities or interests.
Explore what creative health looks like in practice through case studies from across England.
Use and adapt tools and resources to support conversations, planning and delivery.
Follow links between related topics to build a richer picture over time.
Share relevant sections with colleagues and partners.
Check back regularly as new learning, evidence and examples are added.
About the Playbook
This Playbook has been created to support people working across devolved regions to explore how creative health approaches can help meet the new Health Duty, find relevant examples and take practical action in their own context.
Bringing together learning from across England, this Playbook provides practical examples, evidence, resources and case studies to help users identify approaches that can be adapted and applied within their own region. Its aim is to accelerate learning, strengthen collaboration, and help build healthier, fairer places and futures for all.
Photo credit: © London Arts and Health / Mae London Photography