How art can reduce loneliness and improve wellbeing

Shared art can reduce loneliness and improve mental health

Photo credit Rachel Duffield: Community Art Club 2024

Loneliness is not just an unpleasant feeling. It can affect sleep, stress, mood, immune function, motivation, and long-term health. People can feel lonely after bereavement, illness, relocation, caring responsibilities, retirement, disability, or simply through a lack of regular connection.

Arts engagement can help because it gives people a reason to gather that is not forced or awkward. A choir, craft circle, life drawing class, book group, theatre workshop, dance session, or local photography walk gives connection a focus. Conversation grows around the activity.

This can be easier than open-ended socialising. People do not have to perform confidence. They can begin by making, listening, watching, or moving alongside others.

Community art programmes like my Community Art Clubs can also create a sense of belonging. They bring people into shared spaces and invite them to contribute. A mural, exhibition, performance, or even my informal end-of-class gallery says: your presence has value here.

For people experiencing anxiety or low mood, this matters. Depression often encourages withdrawal. Anxiety can make social contact feel risky. Creative groups offer gentle structure. There is usually a task, a rhythm, and a shared purpose. Those features can make returning week after week more manageable.

Good community arts projects (like mine!) also welcome different levels of ability.

This matters because many adults carry old shame from school art rooms, music lessons, or being told they were not creative. A health-supportive arts space should make room for beginners, disabled participants, neurodivergent people, carers, older adults, and those who need quiet or paced involvement.

The mental health benefits of shared art often come from a mix of factors:

• Regular routine

• Friendly contact

• Sensory pleasure

• Physical movement

• Creative choice

• Shared achievement

• Hope and anticipation

• A break from worry or caring roles

  
  

The finished artwork may be lovely, but the process often carries the deeper benefit.

If you'd like to make art and make friends, why not come along to one of my Community Art Clubs? They run Sept - July at various locations in Norfolk, UK. Dates and times are published tri-monthly on our Facebook page, and you can DM or email me for details any time.

Rachel Duffield is the Founder of Community Art Clubs CIC. Her podcast Art is Good For You is available on YouTube & Spotify. Her signature Art Life Journalling Course runs twice yearly and information about this, and her partnership working with and for museum, gallery and school communities can be found here on her website. You can contact Rachel on WhatsApp 07943476788, via email rachelduffieldart@gmail.com or by DM on Facebook.