On Friday 10 October 2025, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust celebrated World Mental Health Day with a focus on how art and creativity can improve our mental health.
Creative Connections, aptly named for how art can connect us to one another and build positive mental health, brought together artwork from its mental health inpatient units alongside mindfulness activities including colouring and the Japanese art of Kintsugi, delivered by Trust’s Humber Recovery and Wellbeing College.
We were proud to support the event by funding art supplies which were delivered to all the Trust's mental health inpatient units. Patients where then invited to create artwork to exhibit at the event, which took place in Princes Quay Shopping Centre in Hull.
The event also included a project titled Art Draws Us Together, which was inspired by the annual Hull Fair. Local artist Charlotte Eldred laid out a large backdrop scene of the fair, and visitors were invited to doodle their own portraits on small A6 and A7 cards. These were then added to the canvas, gradually forming a “crowd” that symbolises connection, creativity and collective mental-health support.
