On this week’s episode of the Creative Medicine Podcast, I speak to Artist Laura Poppitt  @poppitt.art  🎨

We speak about Laura’s journey with alcohol dependence and how she found art and creativity as an important part of her recovery and sobriety.

Laura is a super-talented artist and also a wonderful singer. She aims to develop a supportive community around creativity & well-being. Check out Laura on social media (links below) and find out more about her creative community.

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About Laura:

I am a sketch artist based Birmingham. My journey of sobriety from alcohol and art started in February 2018. I went from Rehab to a female dry house also attending courses with crisis skylight Birmingham which I received a Changing lives Grant for my art. I am now creating from home, selling on Etsy, and using social platforms for my art to view.

Follow Laura:

Instagram: @poppitt.art

Check out her page on Etsy

Follow Amal:

Instagram: @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

On this week’s episode, I am speaking to GP and Medical Educator, Dr Louise Younie.

We explore the concept of creative enquiry and how we can bring develop the human dimension in medical education. Louise shares her own journey with recovery from breast cancer and how the future of arts in health, both from practitioner and patient well-being perspectives.

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About Louise:

Louise Younie (MBChB, MRCGP (dist), MSc (dist), EdD, SFHEA, NTF) is a GP and Clinical Reader in Medical Education at Queen Mary University of London where she leads on faculty development and innovation. She has extensive experience with creative enquiry methodologies in medical education for humanising medicine, professional identity formation and human flourishing. She is a Flourishing Fellow working across the whole of QMUL to explore co-creatively with students and staff, what it means to flourish. She has recently been made a National Teaching Fellow in recognition of this work (2022).

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Follow Louise on Twitter @LouiseYounie

More information about Louise’s work at: Creativeenquiry.qmul.ac.uk   

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Follow Amal:

Instagram @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

In this episode, I am very honoured to speak to Tim Joss - founder of the social enterprise - Aesop. We talk about Tim's passion for the arts and how Aesop is applying arts-based solutions to society's problems. We also talk about the Dance To Health programme and Prescribe-Arts social prescribing initiative. This was an interesting conversation which identifies the challenges faced by Arts & Health organisations and how we may be able to utilise social prescribing to bring more arts programmes to the health service.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget to rate, review and share - it really does help up grow 😊

See you next time!

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About Tim Joss:

Tim is a social entrepreneur. He is the Chief Executive & Founder of Aesop – www.ae-sop.org and @AesopHealth. Aesop’s vision is ‘A future when arts solutions for society’s problems are valued and available for all who need them’. It runs Dance to Health, the national falls prevention dance programme – aiming to be the first arts programme which becomes a national health service. Aesop has also developed the first evaluation framework for arts and health, the first annual survey of health sector attitudes to the arts, university-accredited arts-and-health training for busy health and arts professionals and major national arts conferences and showcases for health decision-makers. 

Tim is a graduate in mathematics from Oxford University and in piano and composition from the Royal Academy of Music. His past activities include Artistic Director & Chief Executive of the Bath International Music Festival, Senior Manager at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Chair of the International Society for Music Education’s Community Music Commission, Director of the Rayne Foundation and a founder of National Numeracy and the Arts Impact Fund (the first social investment fund for the arts). He was appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005.

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Follow Amal:

Instagram @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

In this episode, I speak to Laura Conway – founder of Creative Blood. Over the past few months, I have had the honour of having so many inspiring conversations with Laura discussing the need for honest, meaningful creative content and how to trust our intuition and bring balance to a noisy, distracting world. As a thought leader in advertising, working with A-list talent, Laura brings her experience and a fresh perspective on how we can support well-being within the creative community.

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About Laura:

A creative at heart, Laura began her career as a session drummer on European tours for a variety of established artists. This introduced her to artist management, working under music’s legendary PR Alan Edwards, at The Outside Organisation, where she worked with seminal artists such as David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz and The Spice Girls. And then back on stage again In 2010 when she landed a record deal with Island Records.

In 2013, Laura founded Creative Blood, following 11 years spent living and working between Los Angeles & London, both as an artist and producer. Her passion for creative services was established during her time in LA, where she was introduced to photo and film production and found herself working with Hollywood’s A-list including Mary J Blige, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino.

Laura is a thought-leader within advertising, renowned for her personal approach, collaborative nature, and unwavering passion - principles that she has instilled into her business, and strongly advocates for with clients, partners and peers alike. She is a champion of craft and artistry and a highly connected business leader across the creative landscape. Her relationships span a diverse range of people, organisations and creatives, from newly-emerging talent to world-renowned, graduate mentees to CEO’s.

In the 8 years since Creative Blood was founded, it has become the go-to creative partner for influential global brands, agencies and editorial platforms - those seeking to create exceptional work through trusted partnership.

Connect with Laura:

Instagram @creativebloodagency

LinkedIn

https://www.creativebloodagency.com

In this episode, I speak to Dr Zarrin Shaikh about her career as a cardiologist and how she finds a balance using creativity and film to help patients express their stories. We talk about the importance of creativity in communicating health messages and how film can help improve feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget to rate, review and share! See you next time!

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About Zarrin

Zarrin Shaikh is a Consultant Cardiologist who has been on the frontline of the NHS since qualifying from the University of Nottingham in 2001. She is a fellow on the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur programme. More recently, she has started producing short films through her production company Fresh Heart Project.

In 2012, Zarrin obtained a PhD from Imperial College London for her work studying the role of intracardiac shunting of blood in obstructive sleep apnoea and chronic obstructive lung disease.

Following on from her PhD, she underwent comprehensive training in all aspects of Cardiology with a focus on cardiac imaging, specifically echocardiography and cardiac MRI, qualifying as a consultant in 2017. After 4 years of working as a Consultant Cardiologist within hospitals, Zarrin now runs NHS community cardiology clinics.

Zarrin has augmented her medical career with a new media-driven initiative entitled “The Fresh Heart Project” www.freshheartproject.com. This was initially set up to disseminate evidence-based information on optimising health and preventing cardiac disease via podcasts and videos. Fresh Heart Project is now a health-focused film and video production company. Zarrin is currently producing the initial slate of Fresh Heart Project short films.

Check out the Fresh Heart Project and follow Zarrin on Instagram

Follow Amal:

Instagram @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

This episode is a conversation with transformational coach, Vaishali Patel. We talk about how Vaishali discovered creativity as a tool to express and heal trauma. She is a TEDx speaker and is organising a retreat called “From Suppression to Self-Expression” which empowers people to express themselves through movement, improvisation and coaching.

Check out the full episode on your favourite podcast streaming platform

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About Vaishali:

Vaishali is a proven-expert in helping people transform their inner world to discover who they truly are and own their voice. She was invited to do a TEDx talk on using creative expression to become self aware and heal through the body.

Vaishali is a Certified Life Coach, Certified Practitioner of NLP and has enjoyed leadership positions within one of the world’s leading personal and professional leadership and communication organisations. She has over a decade of leadership experience in corporate marketing and communication.

Vaishali is an experienced Reiki practitioner and is currently publishing a book on how solo travel can empower women to discover and express who they truly are. She enjoys improvisation theatre, dance, art and well-being.

Instagram: @vaishali_tedx

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Follow Amal:

Instagram: @amal.lad

Twitter: @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

On this week’s episode I speak to film director, entrepreneur, and former monk, Ravinol Chambers. 

It is a special conversation and Ravinol shares his journey from monk to filmmaker and the role of creativity in self-discovery. Ravinol believes film can inspire social change with his recent award-winning documentary “A girl can touch the sky” which explores the traditional gender roles and challenges faced by girls in India when accessing education.

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About Ravinol:

Ravinol is an Irish-born film director and former monk, who is passionate about telling stories that connect us as humans at the deepest level, beyond the borders and boundaries that are put between us. He is the founder of the multi-award-winning production company Be Inspired Films, which focuses on helping impact investors and family offices to bring their impact to life through storytelling and film. He has recently completed a feature-length documentary called 'A Girl Can Touch The Sky' which explores the challenges girls in India face accessing education and the role men can play to help create a gender-equitable world. He is also the host of the Evolving Door podcast where his guests share breakthrough moments in their lives.

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Connect with Ravinol:

Instagram: @beinspiredrav

Twitter: @ravinol

Website: https://www.beinspiredfilms.co.uk

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Connect with Amal

Instagram @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk

In today’s episode, I'll be speaking to spoken word artist and rapper, Duke Al.

Duke uses his poetry to express his experience of living with Type 1 diabetes and OCD. Duke uses music and writing poetry as a means of therapy to cope with mental illness. He is a published author with his recent book titled “Bittersweet”, which is a collection of poems about diabetes and features artwork by diabetes specialist and artist – Dr Sarah Ali Racaniere.

This is a special episode as Duke performs one of his poems exclusively for us.  Find out more about Duke at the links below and check out his music on Spotify.

Let us know what you think about this episode, it would be great to hear from you!

Until next time! Stay tuned.

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Follow Duke Al:

Instagram @DukeAlDurham

Twitter @DukeAlDurham

Facebook @dukealdurham

Follow Amal:

Instagram @amal.lad

Twitter @AmalLadMusic

Creative Medicine:

Instagram: @creativemedicineuk

www.creativemedicine.co.uk