Our Projects
Immersing ourselves in heritage and creativity has significant health benefits. Walking with experts and artists in an ancient landscape is good exercise that arouses our senses and feeds our minds.
Exploring compelling archives is an absorbing, immediate experience of history in the making. Creative writing can help us communicate powerful ideas in a few words, and photography can capture a moment that we can look back on fondly for years. These culture therapy activities are a dose of hope in a society that often seems cold and unfriendly. Here are some of the projects we run to deliver that dose.
Scaling Up Change Minds
Scaling Up Change Minds is a partnership between the Norfolk Record Office and the Restoration Trust that builds on successful Change Minds projects in Norfolk. Change Minds is a community heritage programme using archives for mental wellbeing and social connection.
Heritage Linkworker Great Yarmouth & Waveney
Collaborating with local health and heritage services, the Heritage Linkworker connects local people who are referred to social prescribing services with heritage activities and organisations in Great Yarmouth and Waveney, including within the Heritage Action Zones in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.
Later Prehistoric Norfolk Project/Archaeology for Wellbeing
The Later Prehistoric Norfolk Project (LPNP) aims to place Norfolk’s prehistoric archaeology in an international context and at the same time explore the potential of archaeological projects to contribute to their participants’ health and well-being.
Stay in Touch
Stay in Touch is an online drop-in culture therapy group for everyone who is or has been a member of a Restoration Trust project. It began in November 2020 and meets fortnightly on Zoom, where sessions are led either by the coordinator, artist and musician Ian Brownlie, by an external expert or creative, or by a member of the group. The group has a mutually supportive dynamic, with different members coming forward to facilitate and share passions, creativity and knowledge. The group keeps in touch through a private social media page.
Scaling Up Human Henge
Scaling-up Human Henge is part of a university research council initiative on Mobilising Cultural and Natural Assets to Tackle Health Disparities. Building on our Human Henge project at Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Sites, this iteration is led by Bournemouth University and our role is as Critical Friend to the project on the group and during the research.
Want to find out about our products too?
The Restoration Trust is able to deliver support by designing new projects and bringing together partners with the capacity to deliver them. There are a wide range of alternative projects that heritage partners and mental health service providers could collaborate on, and our products help understand the value of culture therapy and encourage people with mental health challenges to access pro-active support while also helping them engage with heritage assets.
We’re always exploring new products that would support partner organisations to take a greater role in the development and delivery of programmes, so if you’re interested in finding out more, click below.
