Now in its fourth year, Ireland’s support programme for the entire Irish Creative Sector on the Island of Ireland and for our Irish creative peers overseas, Minding Creative, Minds (MCM) has established a sincere and nourishing relationship with its users and accelerated its service programme over the last eighteen months in particular. In 2023, MCM achieved significant growth in creatives engaging with our 24/7 counselling services and facilitated over 2000 counselling hours. In addition, we expanded our service to include specialist trauma counselling for the sector. Our career mentoring programme piloted in the winter of 2021, grew to more than 1000 hours of 1:1 mentorship engagements; we hosted more than 50 online and in-person masterclasses which were attended by over 1400 people and also hosted the first ever Minding Creative Minds’ Creative Careers Summit.
- Minding Creative Minds advancements continue in 2024, with the launch of our Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) service. Monday, April 15th Minding Creative Minds Creative Arts Therapy will become available to our creative sector community. This phase of our new Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) is a pilot phase, where we welcome user feedback from its launch and into the immediate months to follow.
This addition of Creative Art Therapies (CAT) to Minding Creative Minds growing list of free and confidential services for the Irish Creative Sector is possible due to the continued support of The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Minding Creative Minds’ (MCM) Director and MCM Creative Arts Therapies Service Project Lead; Ann Marie Shields offers; “For a long time I have been aware of the powerful work that’s being done within the field of creative arts therapy, having originally been interested in pursuing this line of work myself. In more recent years I’ve seen some of the remarkable results clients have had with music therapy. Research shows that the creative arts therapies (music therapy, drama-therapy, art therapy and dance & movement therapy) help to relieve pain, reduce anxiety, help process traumatic experiences and provide a positive means of communication. The practitioners are not only clinically trained but are also creatives themselves so have a deeper understanding of what people who work in the arts industry might be dealing with. Providing access to these creative therapeutic routes into healing is a natural fit for Minding Creative Minds.”
Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are the planned and prescribed use of creative processes with a qualified therapist working to support and enhance the psychological and social well-being of individuals. Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are used to help people interpret, express, and resolve their emotions and thoughts through the creative process of the arts. Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are based on the fact that creative expression can foster mental health, and support wellbeing.
- Providing a therapeutic language through the arts is wholly appropriate and meaningful for people with creative minds working in the creative industry, and who are used to engaging in and through the creative arts.
- Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are evidence-based health care professions. It is an umbrella term incorporating four (4) professions; Art Therapy, Dance-Movement Therapy, Drama Therapy, and Music Therapy.
At Minding Creative Minds we are very proud of our growing list of services, a list which has been developed from our consistent interactions with our creative sector peers; in Its simplest form questions and requests received from our peers via our existing monthly Meet & Greet registration process, social media and email communications and indeed our in-person gatherings. The addition of Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) to our well-being service offering was a natural step for the organization which supports those working in the Irish creative sector in all its forms.
Founder and CEO at Minding Creative Minds, Dave Reid says; “We are thrilled to be in a position to now add this wonderful new service to our list of free services. The service was over twelve months in the planning and we are very pleased to be ready to launch. Our Minding Creative Minds (MCM) Creative Arts Therapies service offering involves twelve (12) sessions over a twelve (12) week period of time. For more information about MCM’s Creative Arts Therapies and to submit an application to use the service, please visit our website here
Minding Creative Minds is also grateful to our team who will facilitate this new service; Rebecca O’Connor (Neurologic Music Therapist; Creative Arts Therapy Supervisor), Liz Helitzer (Music Therapist; Creative Arts Therapy Coordinator), Eithne Swaine (Art Therapist), Nicola Kealy (Drama Therapist), Shane Cassidy (Music Therapist), Anna Fiona Keogh (Dance and Movement Therapist) and Kevin McNamara (Music Therapist).
Whether you work in the box office at the theatre, photographing a performance, designing a poster, reviewing a concert as a journalist, loading in the backline, a carpenter building the set, the electrician for the venue, an admin support or the lead(s) in the play, the leading artist at the festival; we are all part of the Irish Creative sector and Minding Creative Minds services exist to support us; our well-being, our skills and our careers.
- Minding Creative Minds Creative Arts Therapies can be applied for via this page on our website mindingcreativeminds.ie
- Minding Creative Minds can be contacted 24/7 Dedicated Phone Line (Phone 1800 814 244) | (Calling from NI / UK – 0800 0903677) (International – 00353 15180277)
Together with our core Counselling Service which is positioned to offer medium term support through its twelve free counselling sessions; our specialist 24/7 Specialist Trauma & Abuse counselling, which also offers twelve support sessions and pathway advice, where longer term intervention is needed; we also have an advancing Career hub which already includes our Minding Creative Minds Mentoring Programme together with our Workshop and Masterclass series focusing on skills development and person growth. Within this area we are currently piloting our Online Career Clinic also; which (simply put) offers the user a named window of time (15-20mins) with a choice of a wide range of experts from our creative sector panel. The user of this (pilot) service arrives at the focused meeting with one specific question, and for whom our mentoring programme may be too long or broad. This service was again born out of conversations with our peers and will evolve in a manner that suits its users best. Our next online Career Clinic will take place on Wednesday, May 1st and you can register via our website. Details of all our services and events can be located on our website.
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