Creating Communities
With Mind UK
“I really look forward to Madam Makery on a Monday after
struggling through the long weekend alone.”
Over eight weeks in June and July 2026, Madam Makery ran the Creating Communities pilot programme.
Delivered in partnership with Mind UK in Tower Hamlets, the pilot successfully demonstrated that when barriers to accessing creative activities are removed, individuals facing significant health and social challenges can:
build a sense of connection and community
improve their mood and wellbeing
reclaim their confidence and creative agency and
start to develop the tools and motivation necessary to sustain their own engagement in creative practice and activities.
We delivered the pilot to 15 participants with low-to-moderate mental health issues, providing 124 combined hours of facilitated creative workshops.
The end-of-programme survey shows that our work has immediate and measurable results:
At the start of the pilot, only 50% of respondents felt a sense of connection and community with each other. This rose to 100% by the end of the pilot.
Compared to when they started the programme, 85% reported an improvement in mood and wellbeing.
89% said that taking part in the programme has changed how they think about creativity in their life.
66.7% felt more confident doing something creative than before the programme.
These post-pilot impact findings are backed up by weekly surveys, showing that:
61%* felt “very” or “quite” calm and grounded during and after sessions (rising to 97% including those responding “a little”).
94% felt supported to express themselves creatively during the workshops.
74% felt proud of what they created(rising to 96%including those responding “a little”).
*this outcome is particularly noticeable, especially for a pilot programme, given the mental health needs of the participants.
“From the first meeting with Agathe [Madam Makery facilitator and founder] I knew her values aligned with [Mind’s]. Her experience and passion to support people with their mental health was evident as she talked about the programme and the intersection between connecting to the creativity associated with childhood and reigniting this as adults. I was hooked!
Madam Makery was positively received by clients who benefited from learning new skills, connecting with others and motivating them to use art as a way of managing their mental health challenges.
Madam Makery and the programme will be welcomed back to Mind Tower Hamlets at any time as the feedback from clients highlights the optimism they feel after the course ended which is at the forefront of all we do.”