Weave/Gwehyddu – Arts & Mental Health in Wales and the UK

Introductory Session – Arts & Mental Health in Wales and the UK | Y CELFYDDYDAU AC IECHYD MEDDWL YNG NGHYMRU A’R DU

Chair: Angela Rogers, Executive Director, WAHWN

Lynne Neagle, Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Lynne Neagle is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician and currently Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Wales. Lynne is passionate about suicide prevention and children and young people’s mental health. Her political interests include health, housing, social services, Europe and the future of the valleys in south Wales. In the Fifth Senedd, Lynne was chair of the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee. Before her election to the then National Assembly in 1999, Lynne held a number of posts within the voluntary sector in Wales, working for organisations such as Shelter Cymru, Mind and the CAB.

Sally Lewis, Programme Manager, Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Arts Council of Wales

Sally has worked across the arts, in education and on UK-Japan relations for 40 years in a variety of roles including for festivals, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, the Japan Foundation and londondance.com. For the past 6 years, Sally’s work at the Arts Council has focused on building strategic partnerships to advocate for the health and wellbeing benefits of engaging in the arts; supporting creative posts within the NHS; developing the Cultural Cwtsh (a creative wellbeing resource for the healthcare workforce) and investing in Arts & Minds a programme to support better mental health through the arts in partnership with the Baring Foundation and all Health Boards across Wales.

Peter Carr, Executive Director of Therapies and Health Science at ABUHB

Peter has been the Executive Director of Therapies and Health Science at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board since December 2017. He considers his role a privileged opportunity to champion equality, diversity and inclusion for all colleagues, partners and people living in our community, so that the care that Aneurin Bevan University Health Board delivers allows them to thrive, work and live in a way that really matters to them. He and the health board are committed to supporting the application of arts for health and wellbeing, for the benefits of our patients, staff and wider community, as set out in its recently published arts and health strategy.