Made possible thanks to funding from The Big Lottery Fund, Wellness Warriors was a 6 week, remote, online arts project supporting the emotional wellbeing of children from ethnic minorities and/or low-income families.

Wellness Warriors aimed to create a safe space for children to come together, share, be listened to, and support each other. Using the arts to empower them to develop self-care practices during lockdown.

Wellness Warriors was the first stage of Arts Bridge developing a different way to work with our communities in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, continuing the charity’s emphasis on—and tradition of— working in-person in a practical way within the community.

Wellness Warriors saw participants engage in creative, fun activities designed to help them develop their emotional vocabulary and create their own ‘self-care toolkits’ - activities and techniques they can use whenever they feel sad or anxious which will help them return to a place of calm and contentment. 

Wellness Warriors was participant-led, from its early developmental stages right through to the delivery of the project’s weekly sessions, reflecting the charity’s belief in collaborative artistic practices between participant and practitioner. This included the pre-project focus groups which were key in helping us create the initial format of the project by offering us the opportunity to ascertain what the participants (ie the children) are currently thinking and feeling, especially in relation to the pandemic.

The pilot was delivered throughout Feb and March 2021 and we completed two focus groups with pupils to ensure that the project is catered to their needs. As well as Arts Bridge Practitioners, we worked with a child psychologist and an external evaluator to monitor the impact of the project.