Children's mental health is a pressing public health concern that has only been exacerbated in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising cost of living, and the impact of global events. In England in 2022, 18% of children aged 7-16 years had a probable mental health disorder (Newlove-Delgado et al., 2022). Furthermore, research has shown persistent inequalities in children’s mental health, and it has been suggested that the mental health gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children is growing (Collishaw et al., 2019). Poor mental health has long-term impacts on academic performance, social relationships, and overall quality of life, yet fewer than two-thirds of young people with mental health problems and their families access any professional help (NHS Digital, 2022) with high demand, limited provision, and long waiting lists for specialist mental health services (Moore and Gammie, 2018).

One approach to supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing in community and school settings is through arts-in-nature practice (Moula et al., 2022). The Creative Health Review (APPG on Arts, Health and Wellbeing and the National Centre for Creative Health, 2023) outlined how creativity, including creative activities in nature, is fundamental to supporting healthier, happier, and economically flourishing communities and creative health should be integrated into a whole-system approach to health and social care.

Mobilising existing creative, cultural and community assets is central to asset-based approaches that are gaining credence in UK public health policy making, and schools have been identified as key institutional community assets that can promote wellbeing (Forrester et al., 2020). The importance of schools is also recognised in the Healthy Child Programme (HCP, DoH/DSCF, 2009), the national prevention and early intervention public health framework for children, young people, and their families in the UK. Such policies position schools as a community asset for children’s mental health and wellbeing; however, it is the individuals within the school community that are often the driving force, and schools with strong social links and support from parents/carers are more likely to be motivated to develop and maintain such interventions (Herlitz et al., 2020). As such, one way of building capacity for schools to implement and sustain public health interventions including arts-in-nature practice would be to mobilise community assets such as parents/carers and other community members as local volunteers. Despite the nature of volunteering changing in recent times due to factors such as increased use of technology, austerity, and the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. Mak et al., 2022), volunteers are an essential human resource, supporting local cultural and community arts projects and sustaining the wider cultural sector.

Within this context, the ‘Branching Out’ project set out to investigate how an established arts-in-nature programme ‘Eco-Capabilities’ could be scaled up from time-limited projects involving small numbers of children, to a sustainable public health intervention involving whole-school communities. The Eco-Capabilities programme was originally developed to explore the impact of the arts-in-nature practice called ‘Artscaping’ on children’s mental health and wellbeing. Eco-Capabilities found that Artscapingcontributed to enhancing the mental and emotional wellbeing of children (Walshe et al., 2022). However, extending its reach to more children and ensuring its sustainability beyond projects that are restricted by funding, time, and resources remains a challenge. Accordingly, the Branching Out model was developed with the intention of extending the reach of Artscaping by mobilising community assets, including school staff and volunteers, as ‘Community Artscapers’ to support its delivery and promote the mental health and wellbeing of children in primary schools.

The Branching Out research methodology drew on Creswell and Plano Clark’s (2011) exploratory multi-level mixed methods approach to investigate how partners could adapt their Artscaping practice for a model using Community Artscapers to reach more. The first phase of the research was concerned with developing the Branching Out model, involving interviews with artists and school staff involved in the Eco-Capabilities programme; a national online survey of arts organisations delivering arts and nature activities in schools; an e-Delphi Study with primary school staff with responsibility for children’s mental health and wellbeing; and stakeholder workshops including representatives from the health sector, local authority, education, and voluntary organisations (Bungay et al., 2023). The second phase of the research reported in this paper focused on the implementation of the Branching Out model across six pilot sites. Ethical approval for the research was granted by the UCL Research Ethics Panel. All participants were fully informed about the research using the appropriate participant information sheet and signed a consent form before data collection. The Branching Out model was piloted in six primary schools geographically dispersed across Cambridgeshire in areas of high disadvantage and ensuring a mix of both rural and urban settings. Delivery was led by project partners CCI and CAP with support from Fullscope. The initial intention was for all schools to recruit local volunteers to be Community Artscapers supported by school staff, but some schools found volunteer recruitment challenging and/or felt that including staff would lead to greater sustainability. All adults involved in facilitating Artscaping were considered Community Artscapers. The process of selecting children to participate was different in each school, but usually involved consultation between the senior leadership and teachers through pupil progress meetings and discussions with SENCOs and pastoral leads. Artscaping was seen as an opportunity to support those on the cusp of requiring external mental health support. In the Branching Out pilot, Community Artscapers delivered 1.5 hour Artscaping sessions with children outdoors for eight weeks in Autumn 2022. Researchers attended one session in each of the schools to inform subsequent online semi-structured interviews at the end of the pilots. A total number of 12 participants were interviewed including school staff (head teachers or inclusion leads, teachers, and teaching assistants involved in delivering Artscaping) and community volunteers to reflect on the experience of implementing the Branching Out model and facilitating Artscaping. Interviews were audio recorded and professionally transcribed. Transcriptions were subject to thematic analysis.

Findings were explored in relation to mobilising community assets, the impact of the pilot on the children, and the impact on Community Artscapers. One of the first steps in mobilising community assets as Community Artscapers was to develop the opportunity in a way that would engage individuals; the Community Artscaper role was framed as an opportunity for school staff and volunteers to engage with children in a novel way, outside of the classroom, fostering a connection with nature using the arts. Schools recruited volunteers through newsletters, emails, social media, noticeboards, and word-of-mouth communication. A pivotal component of the pilot was the training day which offered the opportunity for Community Artscapers to experience the activities for themselves, enabling a better sense of the potential impact on children's mental health and wellbeing. Impacts for children included: improved mental health; freedom in creativity and being outside; personal development, particularly increased confidence in terms of participating, speaking and taking ownership of what they were doing; emotional impacts as the sessions instilled a sense of calm; and social connection as children had new opportunities to connect with adults. The impact on children meant that Artscaping delivered by Community Artscapers could serve as another “wave” of support for emerging mental health concerns before the point of being eligible for other provisions. Impacts for Community Artscapers included sub-themes of: developing confidence in Artscaping as practice which makes a difference to children; supporting their own emotional wellbeing; providing personal and professional development for both volunteers and school staff; and providing opportunities for intergenerational connection and community. In summary, the Branching Out model represents an innovative way of extending the reach of Artscaping by mobilising community assets and thus demonstrates potential as a public health intervention to support the mental health and wellbeing of children in primary schools.

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