Metal Southend’s Creative Wellbeing Project Connect & Create Celebrates 10 Years of Supporting Improved Mental Health in Southend

May 13, 2026

Now, 10 years on, and building on the success of NetPark Wellbeing, this redesigned initiative provides accessible and impactful art-based wellbeing groups, designed to support emotional healing, self-expression, and resilience. Connect & Create is supported by Southend City Council. Since 2016, the programme has provided at least 25,554 hours of support, delivered well over 100 groups, and has supported 2,194 people. This year, 49% of participants said they had reduced the use of crisis team or NHS and GP mental health services, falling from 175 total visits at pre-evaluation to 90 total visits at post-evaluation.

“Over the last decade, people in our community have been facing growing and complex mental health challenges. During this time, Connect & Create and its legacy has shown how the arts can play a crucial role in strengthening mental wellbeing at a time when such resilience is needed most.

Metal is proud to be working with Southend City Council to provide free, safe and accessible sessions to strengthen connection and community, and it is much needed work I hope we can continue doing for the next ten years.” — Warren Harper, Director, Southend & Essex, Metal With a strong commitment to improving mental and emotional wellbeing through art, Connect & Create delivers a range of accessible, free and carefully designed sessions, with each participant working at a personalised art station with materials they enjoy from painting to collage, clay and other drawing.

“Through art, I have been able — and am still learning — to express my trauma using different creative mediums, including drawing on the natural world and being outdoors.” - Connect & Create participant Sessions are adapted to meet the diverse needs of the Southend community from Metal Art School, based in Chalkwell Park. The relaunch, which took place in late 2025, introduced new opportunities to expand and deepen the programme’s impact.

By the end of March 2026, Connect & Create was running two weekly dementia groups and three weekly afternoon mental health groups, at full capacity. These included Dementia Art Sessions, Me, Myself & Art, A Walk in the Park, and Creative Resilience — a distinctive blend of therapeutic, creative, and community-based support.

“We warmly welcome anyone facing mental health challenges—whether you’re feeling anxious, low, lonely, or simply in need of a safe space to breathe. Through the therapeutic power of creativity, we offer opportunities to reconnect with yourself, create meaningful artwork, build new friendships and enjoy the moment.” — Emma Mills, Art Psychotherapist & Connect & Create Coordinator

The Connect & Create programme offers free, accessible art therapy and art wellbeing sessions in supportive group settings that encourage connection and creativity. The project is one of the few in Southend providing dedicated art activities for people living with dementia, as well as support for those affected by trauma outside NHS mental health services. “Brilliant and incredibly powerful. It got me writing for the first time in years by helping me understand that creativity has nothing to do with good or bad, but is inherently vital to my mental health. It also made me feel part of a community, which I had never felt living here.” - Connect & Create participant

It also benefits from regular input from artists and creatives working locally, nationally and internationally. The groups are intergenerational and inclusive, helping to strengthen community connection, and the project has a strong track record of award-winning work and partnership activity, including involvement in the Southeast Essex Trauma Alliance, an NHS initiative promoting trauma-informed best practice.

“There is a growing body of evidence that illustrates the links between cultural and heritage engagement and health and wellbeing. Cultural engagement can help to prevent, treat and manage physical and mental health problems.” — Executive Summary, Department for Culture, Media and Sport Report (2024), p.10

Through creativity, compassion, and innovation, Connect & Create aims to be a beacon of support for individuals of all abilities. With its roots in the success of NetPark Wellbeing, this new chapter promises to continue transforming lives through the power of art.

For more information about Connect & Create, upcoming programmes, or to get involved, visit Metal’s website or contact Emma Mills, the programme’s Mental Wellbeing Coordinator: emma.mills@metalculture.com / 01702 470700