SESSIONS aimed at improving emotional wellbeing through participating in arts-based activities are being delivered in County Durham.

As a follow-on from the formerly NHS-funded Colour Your Life project, which recently ended, the Crook-based Jack Drum Arts initiative, in County Durham, won funding to deliver social prescribing interventions aimed at improving mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The deal was secured in consortium with partners Leisureworks, in Stanley, the East Durham Trust, in Peterlee, 2D, the Pioneering Care Partnership, in Newton Aycliffe, Aspire and the Waddington Street Centre, in Durham.

A jewellery-making course starts at the NeST Gallery, in Barnard Castle, on Monday, from 10am to noon.

Other sessions also running in Barnard Castle are messy play and crafts for pre-school children at the SureStart outreach centre, on Stoneleigh, on Mondays, from 9.30am to 11am, and a samba music workshop at the TCR Hub, on Thursdays, from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Stacey Taylor, from Jack Drum Arts, said: “This new and exciting service aims to provide access to social prescribing interventions for the improvement of mental health and the development of emotional resilience.

“Barnard Castle is being used as a satellite hub, delivering family engagement and open arts activities for adults."

For information on enrolment, call Stacey Taylor on 01388-765002 or email stacey@jackdrum.co.uk.