Create is an ERASMUS+ project which contributes to the achievement of:
• The objectives of the European 2020 Strategy including the headline education target
• The objectives of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020)
• The promotion of European values in accordance with Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union.
• EU Agenda on Migration (2015)
The development of professional Arts Therapists (professionals who support migrants with mental health problems through art, music, dance, drama) across Europe supports the EU agenda for adult learning.
• The 35 to 40 million foreign-born people in Europe continue to face difficulties in becoming a full part of the economic, cultural, social, and political lives of their adopted societies. This situation is undesirable from both the perspective of European integration and of human rights. The right to health obliges governments to ensure that “health facilities, goods and services are accessible to all, especially the most vulnerable or marginalised sections of the population, in law and in fact, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds” (General Comment 14, 2000) paragraph 12 (b).
• Good mental health is crucial for the successful integration of migrants in a new country. A rare quantitative survey of women internally or internationally trafficked for sex work or domestic service in selected European countries found that 70% of women had experienced both physical and sexual abuse during trafficking and that the majority exhibited severe physical and mental health symptoms such as back and abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, gynaecological infections, depression and anxiety (Zimmerman et al. 2008).
• There are variations in health among different migrant categories. For asylum seekers, research has focused on the physical and mental impact of conflict and war in some countries of origin; trauma associated with migration and settlement processes including isolation, loss of social status, poverty and insecure legal immigration status; and impact of government policies such as detention and dispersal in the receiving society. Systematic reviews of studies across European countries point to higher rates of depression and anxiety among asylum seekers and refugees compared to the national population or other migrant categories (Raphaely and O’Moore 2010)
The Create project will develop learning resources which support the professional development of new and existing Creative Therapists through the development pf approaches for professionals working with migrants experiencing from mental health issues. Create will develop 2 training modules which promote partnership working among Arts Therapists (Art Therapists, Dance/Movement Therapists, Drama Therapists or Music Therapists), existing packages of support for refugee and migrants to EU countries. It will also produce a training module specifically aimed at the supervisors of Arts Therapists working with Refugees and Migrants.

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