Creative Health, Participation and Systems Change

Creative health is increasingly recognised for its role in improving wellbeing and reducing inequalities, but what does it take to embed these approaches within health and care systems without losing the relationships, creativity and community voice that make them effective?

In this interactive session, Jayne Howard and Dr Jane Hearst will draw on practice, research and national developments in creative health to explore three key questions: whose knowledge counts in shaping wellbeing, how we sustain community-centred approaches, and what meaningful participation looks like within health and care systems. Through discussion and shared reflection, we’ll consider how creative health can contribute to more inclusive, participatory and preventative approaches to health and wellbeing.

Facilitators

Jayne Howard

Jayne Howard is Head of Programmes at the National Centre for Creative Health and Founding Director of Arts Well CIC. With senior leadership experience spanning the NHS, public health, education and the VCFSE sector, including as Director of Public Health for Central Cornwall, she brings expertise in the national creative health landscape and its contribution to health and care system priorities. Over more than 20 years, she has led, advised on and championed creative health programmes, fostering collaboration across sectors to address health inequalities, improve wellbeing and strengthen prevention. Jayne is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Public Health, a qualified workplace coach and mentor, Action Learning Facilitator, and collector of post-graduate qualifications with an MA in 20^th Century Art and Design Theory and two Postgraduate Diplomas in English Literature and Professional Writing. 

Dr Jane Hearst

Jane is a Doctor of Creative Health, known for her work integrating the arts into healthcare systems. She currently serves as the Research and Policy Manager at the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) and creates film and book content under her professional brand, Creative Synthesist. As an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL, she works on the Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities (MCA) programme, where she uses Implementation Science approaches to identify barriers and limitations to developing Creative Health infrastructure. She was celebrated as Entrepreneurial Collaborator of the Year at the Real Entrepreneurs’ Awards 2025 for her work in supporting Creative Health network development across the11 Integrated Care Systems in the Midlands region. She is the author of the 2025 Routledge text, A Creative Health Communication Framework: Addressing the Compatibility and Marketability of Mental Health and Wellbeing Services – a book which features work from her PhD in Creative Health – and editor of the upcoming publication Creative Health in Systems: the People, Priorities and Challenges Shaping Integration. 

Jane would describe her work as pragmatic, creative, and nonpartisan; informed by entrepreneurial practice and systems change theory.

This event will be online only. Please register here.