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Brighton & Sussex Medical School

Coastal Community and Creative Health

Coastal Community and Creative Health

Coastal Community & Creative Health is a three year national project (2024-27) funded by the UKRI AHRC’s (Arts and Humanities Research Council) ‘Mobilising community assets to tackle health inequalities’ programme.

An aerial shot of Hastings showing houses and the sea from a high viewpoint

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About the project

The project is based in three coastal areas in different regions of England: Hastings, Blackpool,and Weston-super-Mare. These towns share deep health inequalities and poor health, especially around mental health, substance use, and long-term illness. They also have a rich cultural and creative heritage.

We know that creative community activities benefit health, but these are rarely embedded into health policy and services. We will unite a range of stakeholders and community members to generate an evidence-based plan to support cross-sector collaboration to tackle mental health inequalities. Our focus is three key areas identified by our communities as priorities:

  • young people’s mental health and wellbeing
  • drug and alcohol (substance) use
  • bereavement and serious illness

Find out more here >

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Why coastal communities?

As the Chief Medical Officer’s 2021 report demonstrates, coastal communities face significant challenges and experience some of the worst health outcomes and inequalities in the country. Poverty, poor housing, limited opportunities and a low-wage economy in coastal towns also result in lower life expectancy and higher rates of major diseases, including poor mental health, compared to inland neighbours. Meanwhile health services are overstretched.

Why creative health? 

Community and creative health assets such as arts and cultural organisations have the potential to improve lives. New legislation encourages better integration between the NHS, local councils, and other strategic partners like the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) sector, but the complexity and diversity of the ecosystem make this a challenging task. However, inter-sector differences in objectives, structure and culture can complicate collaboration. We need to understand how these stakeholders can come together to improve people’s health.

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Researchers

Researchers working on this project: Dr Lavinia Bertini

The project is led by Prof Lucy Selman (University of Bristol) and Dr Barbara Mezes (University of Liverpool).

People involved

South East Team

  • Lisa Buttery, Co-Investigator, Boingboing Foundation
  • Dr Uschi Klein, Co-Investigator, University of Brighton
  • Teresa Salami-Oru, Consultant in Public Health, East Sussex County Council
  • Dr Alexandra Sawyer, Co-Investigator, University of Brighton
  • Professor Nigel Sherriff, Co-Investigator and South East site lead, University of Brighton
  • Dr Sarah Kennedy, University of Brighton

South West Team

  • Alison Bancroft, Co-Investigator, Redport Ltd
  • Dr Charlotte Chamberlain, Co-Investigator, University of Bristol
  • Dr Lesel Dawson, Co-Investigator, University of Bristol
  • Bev Gustar, Co-Investigator, Lived Experience Expert
  • Esther Kissane-Webb, Research Administrator, University of Bristol
  • Professor John Macleod, Co-Investigator, University of Bristol
  • Dr Alice Malpass, Co-Investigator, University of Bristol
  • Fiona Matthews, Co-Investigator, Super Culture
  • David Moss, Co-Investigator, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
  • Nicola O’Driscoll, Co-Investigator, North Somerset Council
  • Dr Julia Puebla Fortier, Co-Investigator, University of Bristol
  • Helen Wheelock, Co-Investigator, Alliance Homes

North West Team

  • Laura Albury, Co-Investigator, Public Advisor
  • Professor Josie Billington, Co-Investigator, University of Liverpool
  • Heather Catt, Co-Investigator, Public Health Consultant
  • Mike Crowther, Co-Investigator, Empowerment Charity
  • Dr Viktoria Erlacher-Downing, Research Administrator, University of Liverpool
  • Sue Flowers, Co-Investigator, Green Close Studios Ltd
  • Tracy Hopkins, Co-Investigator, Citizens Advice Blackpool
  • Jon Hutchinson, Co-Investigator, Groundwork
  • Dr Buket Kara, Co-Investigator,  Lancaster University
  • Judith Mills, Co-Investigator, Blackpool Council
  • Dr Henry Pollock, Co-Investigator, Boingboing Foundation
  • Kristof Santa, Research Assistant, University of Liverpool
  • Helen Shearn, Co-Investigator, Independent Consultant
  • Dr Sophie Wickham, Co-Investigator, University of Liverpool