Who: Helium Arts
What: Creativity for children
Helium Arts is Ireland’s children’s arts and health charity. We support children struggling with the social and emotional challenges of long-term illness or disability through a range of creative arts programmes. In Ireland, there are as many as 12,000 children living with a serious illness that often hampers their mental health. Our aim is to help these children combat the loneliness and isolation that can occur as byproducts of missing school and feeling different from their peers. We also bring together young people with similar conditions or disabilities in order to show them they are not alone and there are others struggling with the same things they are. We use creativity as a means of empowering our participants, helping them realise their potential and the things they can do rather than the things they cannot. This video is a short documentary about our programme Cloudlands, which took place in Temple Street Hospital. Artist Rachel Tynan worked with teenagers in the hospital on a regular basis, supporting them to release their inner creativity through whatever artform they preferred. Cloudlands provided a distraction from their illness, and gave them something to look forward to during their regular hospital trips. Helium is aiming to roll out programmes like this around the country in the coming years, so chronically ill children and young people from all over Ireland will benefit from the sense of connection and empowerment that the arts can provide.
Support Our Campaign
We rely on the generosity of the public to fund our work and so far together we have achieved great things! Please do continue to support us so we can provide future generations in Ireland with the resources to recognise and talk about their emotions, and equip them to navigate the ever-changing world around them as they grow
