Creative Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing with Foundation Year
The arts have long been recognised as having the capacity to support health, wellbeing, and therapeutic change. Creative expressive arts in health and wellbeing is a field that draws on this understanding, examining how creative practice across modalities including visual art, music, drama, and movement can be used intentionally and ethically to support individuals in therapeutic, educational, and community contexts. It is a discipline that sits between the arts and the caring professions, requiring both creative ability and a sound understanding of human psychology, development, and wellbeing.
At the University of Derby, this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, providing a structured transition into degree-level study for students who benefit from additional preparation. The programme introduces you to the theory and practice underpinning the therapeutic and health-promoting uses of creative arts, exploring psychological frameworks, therapeutic relationships, group dynamics, and the ethical dimensions of working with vulnerable people. You will develop your own creative practice alongside your understanding of how that practice can be applied in health, social care, education, and community settings.
The combination of practical, theoretical, and reflective learning is central to the approach.
This is an area of growing professional recognition, with creative arts approaches increasingly integrated into healthcare, mental health services, schools, care homes, and community development work. Graduates go on to roles in arts in health, community arts facilitation, arts education, and related therapeutic fields. Many continue to postgraduate study in arts therapies, counselling, or health and social care, which can lead to professional registration in disciplines such as art therapy, music therapy, or dramatherapy.
The degree also provides a foundation for work in education, charity, and youth work sectors where an understanding of creative engagement and wellbeing is valued.