What is Orange Collective?

Orange Collective are bringing together Arts Practitioners and Therapeutic Practitioners to support a growing movement in Arts and Wellbeing, in response to a mounting mental health crisis.

Trauma research has confirmed what we all know, that human beings heal through creative engagement such as dance, music, art, play and gathering in community.

In the UK we have a long history of arts and wellbeing practice. The first residential therapeutic community for arts and wellbeing was created in 1942, in Devon by Irene Champernowne informed by Jungian Psychology.

We have a wealth of creative therapies such as drama/music and art therapy and have developed skills and theory in participatory arts practice. We also have thriving creative industries.

We want to disseminate and share therapeutic knowledge and skills to arts practitioners such as (artists, actors, writers, musicians) who offer or would like to offer wellbeing workshops.

And vice versa - to enable artists to share creative skills and arts practice with mental health practitioners - creating an environment of play and cross - fertilisation. We aim to create a community of practitioners with a range of creative and relational approaches and safe and effective practice which can broaden access to health and wellbeing support.

Our trainers, supervisors and guest lecturers offer a range of expertise in using creative approaches to wellbeing which include areas such as: Being Trauma Informed (including social justice - equality, diversity, adversity and inclusivity), Creative Approaches to Emotional Regulation, Understanding the Impact of Attachment on Group Dynamics, Safeguarding and Professional Practice. We also offer training for therapists and mental health practitioners who wish to integrate the arts into their practice. We are excited to develop a dialogue between artists, therapists and mental health practitioners.

Alongside our trainings we offer Reflective Practice and Clinical Supervision.