Mondays at the Museum – a social prescribing model for heritage and creative health

Mondays at the Museum is an innovative partnership involved in reducing health inequalities in areas of deprivation by providing accessible health and wellbeing activities and services at the centrally located Tolson Museum. Museum staff collaborate with Social Prescribers, Primary Care Networks (PCN) and Local Anchor organisations to expand access to mental and physical health support, outside clinical settings. The council-run Tolson is uniquely placed to provide a welcoming space, accessible without stigma. Activities provided include Big Drum, Wellbeing walks, Yoga, Thai Chi, Flex and Stretch and Crafts among many others. Mondays at the Museum is a key example of the delivery of Kirklees Heritage Strategy approach to Heritage in Action. This project seeks to gather evidence of this model of working to potentially roll out across the museums and galleries sector and as part of the newly established creative health system for West Yorkshire.