Arts and Health

Made Well

Lead: Jane Friend            Contact: jane.friend@farnhammaltings.com

We know that the majority of Surrey’s population experience good health and well being. However,
not everyone will experience a long and healthy life and this project will target the pockets of
deprivation within the county. Life expectancy for people living in Surrey’s most deprived areas is
5.9 years lower for males and 3.7 years lower for females compared with that in the least deprived
areas. There is also a strong association between health inequalities and other measures of
deprivation, including educational under-attainment, low skills, unemployment, low income and poor
housing conditions.
One of our instincts when the Making Surrey project was launched was that there was something
special about making and its ability to engage communities and empower them to create safer and
healthier places to live. We have seen this to be true across the county with community members
reporting improvements to their well being as a result of the project. If we could develop this work
and build a strong evidence base, might the medical profession start prescribing creative activity,
and specifically craft, to improve mental health and well being?