The potent arts

It has been argued that arts participation may be ‘more potent than anything medicine has to offer’ (Smith, 2002). Travelling further upstream from the government's initiatives to improve access to talking therapies as a solution to the mounting burden of depression, this paper describes ways in which community arts programmes involving primary schools are seeking to strengthen the mental wellbeing of children. The arts, the authors argue, deal in imagination, and imagination can be stronger than will power. Thus, by harnessing the imagination, arts interventions can influence change in children's health patterns into adulthood, and thereby help establish a healthy culture in a healthier nation.