City of London Sinfonia is delighted to be a creative partner of the innovative participatory arts programme at the Tessa Jowell Health Centre in East Dulwich. Since 2022, CLS players have been coming to Tessa Jowell Health Centre to provide Music and Wellbeing sessions as part of Southwark’s social prescribing offering.
Led by Dulwich Picture Gallery in partnership with the NHS, this programme aims to promote wellbeing through weekly creative arts sessions. Southwark Social Prescribing Link Workers refer people to sessions at Tessa Jowell Health Centre to support mental health (particularly anxiety) and chronic pain management while combatting social isolation, loneliness, and sedentary lifestyles.
‘For me this health centre means pain, so visualising myself in the centre doesn’t help me. But the music took me to Egypt, lying out and looking at the stars with lots of bedding. Such a special trip. I didn’t want to come back.’
—Music and Wellbeing participant
What is social prescribing?
Social prescribing complements healthcare through community activities that address people’s practical, social, and emotional needs. It is an important part of the NHS’s holistic model of Universal Personalised Care, acknowledging the role of human connection, culture, and creativity in individual wellbeing.
‘We wanted to work with CLS because of their extensive experience of participation programmes in clinical settings that use music in creative ways to support healthier and happier communities.’
—Jane Findlay, Head of Programme & Engagement at Dulwich Picture Gallery
Social prescribing with CLS
CLS’s Music and Wellbeing sessions provide a welcoming space for participants to connect with their mind and body through live music. Sessions encourage people to step away from the everyday and take a moment for self-care and stillness. Led by CLS musicians with experience in responsive playing and practices such as mindfulness and the Alexander technique, participants are guided through activities that give time for breathing, visualisations, and soft movement accompanied by live music. To learn more about how sessions are led, read cellist Rebecca Knight’s reflections on our blog.
One person who attended commented that the Music and Wellbeing session had left them with feelings of ‘harmony and inner joy’.
Participant feedback
‘I’ve gone back to listening to classical CDs after years of not… I used them as a moment… nothing else was going on, I just listened.’
‘Had a great time and enjoyed each session. Learned how to change my mood with music.’
‘I feel a bit better, yeah, because I’ve had a bit of a difficult day.’
‘Help[ed] me to listen more to things around me.’