Creative Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Creative Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing is a degree that sits at the intersection of artistic practice and human care. It draws on the established and growing field of arts therapies and arts in health, which recognises that creative expression through music, visual art, drama, movement and other art forms can support wellbeing, recovery and development in ways that complement and sometimes exceed what other therapeutic and educational approaches can achieve. The discipline is relevant across a wide range of settings: mental health services, hospitals, care homes, community health programmes, schools, prisons and organisations working with vulnerable populations all use creative expressive arts as a tool for engagement and wellbeing.

At the University of Derby, this full-time three-year programme includes an optional foundation year and is taught by experienced practitioners and researchers in the field, working alongside community partners who bring real-world experience into the curriculum. You will develop a range of specific and transferable skills applicable in settings where you work with people through the arts, building both practical creative capabilities and the reflective, ethical and interpersonal skills that professional practice in this area demands. The involvement of community partners gives you direct experience of applying creative arts in real contexts alongside your academic studies.

Graduates from Creative Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing programmes go on to careers in arts in health organisations, mental health services, social care, community development, education support, arts charities and international development. Many go on to further professional training as arts therapists in music, visual art, drama or dance movement, and postgraduate study in arts therapies, arts in health or occupational therapy is a natural continuation. The transferable skills the degree develops, particularly around working with people, facilitation, creativity and reflective practice, are also valued in arts administration, community arts and the broader health and social care workforce.