Project Focus
Creative recovery spaces drawing on heritage and lived experience can support healing.
Supporting Themes
Intersectionality, cultural safety, emotional safety, peer facilitation, partnerships with cultural institutions
About the Project
This project created a safe and affirming environment for Black British women in recovery (with over half also disclosing neurodivergence), to explore identity, emotion and ancestral heritage through creative practice. Sessions were co-designed and facilitated by practitioners with lived experience, supporting emotional safety and trust. Participants engaged with African heritage objects, visual storytelling, and reflective tools to process personal experiences and reconnect with their roots. One woman reflected, “seeing us reflected back gave us permission to share.”
The project began with the premise that creative recovery work is more effective when it recognises the intersections of race, gender and addiction experience. Cultural safety was strengthened through shared heritage, the presence of artists with lived experience, and meaningful organisational partnerships. The use of familiar materials (e.g. African artefacts, reflective prompts) helped participants bring their full selves into the space. This approach allowed emotional recovery to be defined on the participants’ terms, supporting dignity, visibility and long-term change.
Wellbeing data gathered at the end of the project showed 100% of respondents felt more connected to themselves and others, more comfortable expressing emotions, and more accomplished through creative practice. All also reported feeling engaged and able to express thoughts and feelings through the art experience.
“I feel this project helped a lot with my anxiety. I have been having a challenging time emotionally. Coming to the sessions allowed me time where I could focus on something else other than work or responsibilities, or family issues. I was feeling overwhelmed. Leaving, I’m feeling more relaxed and less anxious.”
A Black British woman in her mid-40s joined the PORe project after feeling stalled in her recovery journey and disconnected from her cultural roots. Previous experiences with mental health services had left her feeling unseen: “they never felt like they were for people like me.”
Through creative sessions involving African heritage objects, collage and photography, she found new ways to express complex emotions and identity.
“It gave me a language to speak about things I’d buried…
things I didn’t have words for before.”
Her artwork, inspired by ancestral symbols, was eventually shared publicly, a step she described as “reclaiming something that was always mine.”
She supported peers and contributed to the group zine, and later reflected: “I never thought I’d feel proud of myself again. Now I do.”
This participant’s journey reveals how culturally grounded creative practice, led by practitioners with shared lived experience, can provide emotionally safe, affirming pathways to recovery. For this participant, PORe offered connection, expression and pride.
“It made me reflect on how colonisation has had an impact on how I was socialised. It made me look at storytelling as a way to not only preserve stories but also culture.”
