Drawing on the Museum’s history of social arts activism, this programme raises awareness around health and wellbeing to address current inequalities.

Our approach

Our arts and wellbeing programme explores how our historic story of care still resonates today by addressing stigma and supporting mental health. Our approach is to work holistically, establishing collaborations with local health and community partners. In addition to our programme of creative workshops, we participate in a variety of arts and health initiatives including Creative Health City, exploring how the health, social care and cultural sectors can work together to tackle health inequalities across London. 

Home-Start Camden & Islington

Since 2023 we have been working in partnership with Home-Start Camden & Islington to deliver a parental care programme, supporting local at-risk families with children under 5. With childcare provided by 1A Children’s Centre, the weekly sessions support parents’ wellbeing through creative activities and connecting with others. The history of the Foundling Hospital, and its stories of maternity, childhood, love, and loss provide creative inspiration and a connection between past and present.

From 2023-24, we worked with artist Laura X Carlé on a series of projects exploring ‘artful motherhood’. The programme drew inspiration from the pioneering role women played in establishing the Foundling Hospital, and made connections with our exhibitions Finding Family and The Mother & The Weaver. Creative projects celebrated the resilience of mothers and the physicality of the maternal body.

In 2025, artist Nicole Morris  led on a new iteration of the programme, using textiles and creative writing to explore themes of motherhood, memory-making, and metamorphosis. Questions explored included ‘how do we change as we become mothers?’ and ‘are we still the same people as before?‘. The resulting artworks were displayed in the Picture Gallery in July.

As a toddler mum who struggles with severe mental health issues, it became the highlight of my week. It was the only 2 hours that I felt fully appreciated for who I am, for the skills I have, and for what I can offer, outside of parental duties.
Home-Start member

Today I booklet

Download a copy of Today I, a booklet of creative writing exploring motherhood, produced by Home-Start members

Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health

Since 2024 we have been working in partnership with the Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health in Newham, an inpatient service for young people with complex and severe mental health difficulties. The programme connects past and present as the young people navigate their experiences of hospital stays, separation from family, and identity.
In 2024, artist Nicole Morris facilitated two creative projects, running in the spring and autumn. Young people were invited to explore the Foundling Museum’s story through themes of care, displacement, and identity. The projects culminated in permanent artworks displayed at the Coborn Centre – a large-scale calico work and a wall painting.

Drawing activity

Download a drawing activity designed by artist Nicole Morris and participants from our Coborn Centre project.

In Autumn 2025, artist Daniel Regan led on a project exploring the theme of belonging. Young people looked at belonging through a range of lenses: what communities are we a part of; how do we belong to ourselves; and what do significant objects say about us. These ideas were explored creatively through cyanotypes, weaving, zine-making, clay sculpting, and collage.
I haven’t seen as much engagement for anything else.
Coborn Centre staff member

Lewisham Virtual School

In 2025, we partnered with Lewisham Virtual School and the Lewisham College ESOL course to work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. With artist Shepherd Manyika, the children explored the Foundling Hospital’s story through themes of identity, migration, and displacement. The group made plaster-cast portraits, sound works and sculptures which were showcased at Lewisham College in June.

Mind in Camden

From 2021-2025 we partnered with Mind in Camden’s Healthy Minds Community Programme on art projects that support mental health through creativity and working together, taking inspiration from the Museum’s story of care and social activism. 

In 2021-2022, artist Katriona Beales developed a series of projects. Love~in~Knots took inspiration from the ribbons in our tokens collection, symbols of love and affection. The project interlaced traditional craft-based techniques with digital scanning and image-making, transforming materials and adding layers of meaning. Emblems For the Future drew on the Foundling Hospital’s emblem designed by 18th-century artist William Hogarth to develop the group’s own emblems, creating a collaborative limited-edition print of unique symbols. 

From 2022 to 2023, we worked with artist Charlene Sandy. The Fabric of Things introduced hands-on processes used in the pre-industrial revolution period, such as paper-making, weaving and natural dyeing. The project went back to basics – exploring how things are made and working with the idea of ‘using what you’ve got’. Narrative Threads: Stitching Stories introduced participants to stitching and image-transfer processes, to develop a body of work drawing on imagery that ranged from personal photographs to objects encountered in the Museum. 

In 2024, artist Nicole Morris led on Filling Gaps. Drawing inspiration from our exhibition The Mother & The Weaver, the project explored themes of maternal presence and absence, love and loss, through embroidery, weaving and repairing techniques. The final textile works intentionally left an incompleteness that mirrors the ever-fluid nature of life itself. ‘If you can resolve something here, in your work, you can do so in life’, said one of our participants. 

From 2024-2025, we facilitated ‘Maker Space,’ a creative programme that explored the Foundling Museum’s stories and exhibitions through studio-based practice. Inspired by the exhibition Self-Made: Reshaping Identities the group made clay containers for whatever they chose: hopes, dreams, fears, keys, objects of value, ‘tokens.’ Another project invited the group to be “open to the new” through experimental making processes, and created links with the Foundling story of new beginnings. 

This has been the highlight of the last five years for me.
Mind member