People suffering from and coping with mental health problems are growing on a global scale. The health sector is struggling to address this growing need for psychosocial support therefore working interdisciplinary across sectors and with stakeholder at micro levels is vital to tackle this issue.

Arts on Prescription (AoP) is a community-based approach of improving the mental health and wellbeing of people by connecting them to artistic and cultural activities in group settings. This initiative has shown promising results in Denmark, Finland, Latvia, and Poland through the Interreg BSR project “Arts on Prescription in the Baltic sea Region“. The project has developed a concept for implementing AoP-activities on a municipal level that is adaptable to different local circumstances and resources and aligns well with the focus on mental health of The Norwegian National Strategy for Reducing Social Health Inequalities.

The “Arts on Prescription in Norway” project will explore how to develop, adapt and integrate the concept in the Norwegian healthcare system. The first step will be to identify relevant stakeholders who will learn from the experience of Interreg AoP project partners as well as Region Skåne in Sweden, who has a decade long experience from and research on AoP.

In addition, the plan is to invite actors from Estonia, Lithuania, Iceland and Greenland – countries that have not yet tested “Arts on Prescription” approach.

Expected outcomes:

• Ongoing cooperation between Norway, the “AoP in the BSR” project and Region Skåne
• An analysis of the suitability of the AoP programme concept for Norwegian municipalities and its potential to be embedded in the Norwegian Health Care system
• A workshop in Norway on arts and health interventions, introducing AoP and other models using examples from the UK, Finland and Sweden
• Identification of Norwegian municipalities as AoP piloting sites in second project year
• Detailed workplan for second year of project activities including piloting in Norway and extension of project activities to Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania and Greenland, if feasible.

The project is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services