Creativity In Care

We adore all things Flowmagic here at Creativity in Care

✨ Could there be a collaboration on the horizon…? 👀💫
​💛​ We’d absolutely love to explore what a little Creativity in Care × Flowmagic could look like!

​​🏃‍♀️​ Looking forward to seeing you all at The Vault, MacGregor's Bar on Sunday!

Molly Murray
InverNess Fringe Festival



https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14xe4DqnhxR/

✨ We’re delighted to introduce our fabulous founder member of MACHAIR (Mindfulness, Arts & Creativity Highlands and Islands Roundtable) artist’s network - the wonderful Molly Murray of Flowmagic!

Molly will be at The Vault, MacGregor’s Bar as part of the fantastic InverNess Fringe Festival.

Come along, soak up the atmosphere, support Molly, and enjoy what promises to be a fabulous event! 💫

And make sure to give Molly a follow on Instagram and show some love for her creative work. 💜

https://www.instagram.com/writemakeflow?stkn=cjNldThoaTRndDJi

🎬✨What a fantastic line-up of short film screenings! Come along, enjoy the films on the big screen and join us for the Q&A sessions. Hope to see you there!



https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18XUfAg84p/

SHORT FILMS at EDEN COURT CINEMA
Sunday 4th October from 3pm - 5pm

Join us for an afternoon of short films exploring mental health & wellbeing, creativity, personal journeys and lived experience. Followed by Q&As with those involved in making the films with an opportunity for the audience to share their thoughts and join the conversation.

Films will include:
⭐️ Film about the recent projects in Highland by Arts in Nature working with Mikeysline
⭐️ Fragments of Us – a short film by Conner Brown on men's mental health supporting Mikeysline
⭐️ Reflections From Lived Experience - from Caithness Experience Matters Advisory Panel (CExMAP) - HUG (Action for Mental Health)
⭐️ Swell - by Highland-based artist Robyn Woolston about her brain tumour diagnosis (film commissioned by the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in 2025)
⭐️ THREADS from the DEEP - a short film by Robert Aitken about one of the world's foremost tapestry artists, Joan Baxter.

The Q&A panel includes Allana Stables from Mikeysline, Conner Brown who made Fragments Are Us, Charlotte Mackenzie from Arts in Nature and Robert Aitken (THREADS from the DEEP).

So join us for an afternoon of conversation and creativity around mental health in the Highlands.

Tickets £3 from Eden Court box office.
Some free tickets are available through festival partners and on the day from Graeme Watson (SMHAF Highland).
Contact: [email protected]

You will also be able to view some amazing artworks on display in the annual SMHAF Highland exhibition in the Stalls and 1st Circle Gallery upstairs at Eden Court which is being installed over the weekend. The theme "Reflections" celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.


HUG (Action for Mental Health) / Mikeysline / Arts in Nature / Creativity In Care / Befrienders Highland/ Green Tree Arts Studio / Centred Scot / The Discovery College / People First Highland / Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

🎈The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland invites you to their Gathering at Eden Court on Friday 9th October.

✨ Come along to celebrate creativty, community and connection.

🎨 Meet the artists, enjoy the exhibition, and share in the conversation and ideas inspired by this year's Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 20th birthday theme 'Reflections'

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland have posted a reminder of the key hand - in dates for their annual art exhibition.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Eynf1dF9m/

🎨 Key Dates! - SMHAF Highland Annual Art Exhibition 2026 🎨

A little reminder that we’re looking forward to this year’s SMHAF Highland Annual Art Exhibition at Eden Court Theatre and Cinema, Inverness, before touring to Thurso Art Gallery in November.

🖼️ Key dates for submitting your work:

📅 Monday 21st September, The Discovery College, Wick, 1pm - 3pm
📅 Tuesday 22nd September, Community Room, Thurso Library, 1pm - 4pm
📅 Thursday 24th September, The Bike Shed - Events Venue/Coffee House, Inverness, 12noon - 3.30pm

🌿 Whether you’re an experienced artist or creating something for the first time, we’d love to see your work and celebrate the incredible creativity across the Highlands.

We can’t wait to see how you interpret “Reflections” and to bring everyone together for another inspiring exhibition!

If you have any queries about submitting your artwork to the exhibition, feel free to contact our SMHAF Highland project officer Donna Murray on [email protected]

Absolutely beautiful work and such a lovely reminder of the power of creativity to connect, inspire and bring people together.
Give Laughing Geese a follow for further creative insight, meaningful practice and so much more.

Join the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland on Saturday 5th September at Pulteney Centre (Pulteneytown People's Project) Wick, for an afternoon of film, creativity and conversation.

🎬 From 2pm–5pm, they’ll be showcasing a selection of short films created through local and Highland-wide projects and organisations.

💬 This will be followed by a Q&A exploring the stories, experiences and ideas behind the films, with an opportunity for the audience to share their thoughts and join the conversation.

🎥 Films include:

• Caithness ExMAP - HUG (Action for Mental Health)
• Upstream - The Canmore Trust
• Fragments of Us - Mikeysline & Ross County Football Club
• Flip of the Coin SCIO
• Green Tree Arts Studio
• Hand to Hand - Befrienders Highland
• Shredding Pixels - Skateboarding Community

🎤 Q&A Panel hosted by Alex Patience

Davie Snashall – Peer Project Worker, Lochaber & Caithness Experience Matters Advisory Panels
Tim Barrow – Writer/Director of Riptide, also starring in Upstream
Catherine Sapalski - Befriending Coordinator, Befrienders Highland (Caithness)
Kirsty Hunter – Hive on the Road Manager, Mikeysline
Lucy Campbell – CEO, Flip of the Coin SCIO

☕ The Pulteney Centre's Telfords Café will be open throughout, so there’ll also be an opportunity to relax, connect and continue the conversation.

Free 🎟️ Tickets to be booked below. Donations welcome on the door, but not required.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1998378401594?aff=oddtdtcreator

🎬 Make an evening of it and stay on for the screening of Riptide, Tim Barrow’s Scottish drama exploring schizophrenia, relationships and the search for connection and purpose.

Screening: 6.30pm | Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Free 🎟️ Tickets to be booked separately through Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1998388584050?aff=oddtdtcreator

Gratefully funded by Caithness & North Sutherland Fund

SMHAF Highland Short Film Screenings A free screening of short films exploring mental health and wellbeing as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland.

A beautiful, insightful and reflective piece that I am sure will resonate with many - thank you for sharing Karrie.

( creative health and arts practitioners)

I was once asked whether creative practitioners need any emotional support because they have all the fun don’t they?

It’s an interesting (and perhaps common) point of view.

The emotional rewards can be remarkable. Creative health practitioners often share beautiful stories of the times their practice, trust and process enabled people to reach for something they didn’t know they could do.

Witnessing a participant’s increased confidence, smiles, pride and sense-of-self feels utterly vivacious.

When family members and the people they care about create something together, the artist realises they are witnessing the birthing of a family story about this day or this piece of art, which will become part of that family’s history. That is special.

The work makes a positive meaningful difference – which is a nourishing experience for the artist too.

Some artists have a particular artform and distinct skills that are perfectly re-useable. Their work develops through repeating and refining the same formats. Change occur through dynamic discourse and an exchange of ideas and experiences with each session.

But there can still be long periods behind the scenes; sitting with self-doubt and anxiety about whether the project will work this time. That can be lonely.

Some creative practitioners need time to simply sit with an idea without having any solid structure or plan or vision. Just holding onto a delicate sense that ‘something’ needs time to germinate and show itself. That takes courage.

Creative practitioners sometimes describe being under huge pressure to ‘make things happen’ in ways that ‘everyone can benefit from’. That’s a huge responsibility.

Creative practitioners in healthcare often work with a lot of vagueness (about available space, who is coming, people’s needs, etc). That’s a lot of uncertainty.

Some creative practitioners are holding emotional space for their participants whose art touches something deeply affecting. That’s a lot of heart energy.

So, is emotional support relevant to creative practitioners?

I see that compassion for staff working in pressured systems must include creative practitioners.

Find out more about a one-off session on compassion for staff working in pressured systems:

http://www.karriemarshall.com/staff-programmes

Please nominate the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland, our collaborative friends, to receive £5,000 from the Movement for Good (Benefact Group).
It takes less than a minute to fill in the form and the more nominations they receive, the more chance they have to be drawn as a winnning charity.

👉 Simply fill in the online form via:
https://movementforgood.com/draws/special/community

Nominations are open until Sunday 5th July 2026.
10 winning charities will be drawn during the week beginning 6th July and announced on 10th July.

Thank you for nominating the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland!
Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC054677

We could receive a £5,000 donation with your help through the Movement for Good Draw. We could receive a £5,000 donation with your help through the Movement for Good Draw.

Join this online event with the fabulous Green Tree Arts Studio as part of this years Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland.

🌙✨ Layers of Dreams ✨🌙

A FREE 7-Week Online Creative Programme

Have you ever woken with a dream, image, colour or feeling that stayed with you throughout the day?

Sometimes dreams arrive as fragments, symbols, landscapes and stories. Through creativity, we can gently explore what lingers and what matters.

As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland 2026, we are delighted to be offering *Layers of Dreams* a free 7-week online mixed-media art programme inspired by this year's festival theme:

💭 "Reflections"

Together we will explore:

🚪 Entering the Dream Space
🪶 Fragments & Traces
🌿 Dream Landscapes
🦉 Figures, Animals & Presences
🌉 Thresholds & Transitions
🌳 Roots, Belonging & Collective Dreaming
✨ Gathering the Threads

Through art-making, reflection, imagination and connection, we will create a gentle space to explore identity, belonging, hope and the stories we carry.

🎨 No previous art experience necessary

🌙 You do not need to remember your dreams

🏡 Join from the comfort of your own home

Participants will also be warmly invited (if they wish) to contribute artwork to this year's Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland exhibition at Eden Court.

📅Sessions will start on Wednesdays 22nd July – 2nd September 2026

We wish to be as inclusive as possible so 2 options for timeslots will be offered for participants to select. 10:30am or 4:30pm.
The most popular choice will be selected for the group to run.

Free to attend. Places are limited and booking is essential.

Scan the QR code on the flyer or contact:

📧 [email protected]
📞 What's App 07860 867118

"Dreams often arrive as fragments, colours, feelings and symbols. Through creativity, we can gently explore what lingers and what matters."

Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival Highland

Join Karrie for this insightful and supportive four-part online session starting Tuesday 4th August.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18wdqGX54Y/

As promised - some dates and requested topics for people who support their families. The topics come up frequently in conversations with people who care for family members .. (regardless of health conditions).
Tomorrow I will share how to download a free PDF about five of the most common challenges of family carers. -
Plus how to book on to the four-part programme ‘A creative journey for family carers” which starts Tuesday August 4th (evening) live, online. Recordings will be available for 30 days (for full programme).