Arts, therapy, and health: Three stakeholder viewpoints related to young people’s mental health and wellbeing in Australia

•Art, therapy and health are seen as an inter-relational practice.•Expanded perspectives on scope of practice, discipline boundaries and research gaps.•Art is an important mechanism to provoke a distinct whole of life position.

What is the role of the arts in healthcare related to young people’s mental health and wellbeing? How do we understand the interconnections of art, therapy and health and describe the projected benefits for young people’s mental health and wellbeing? Responding to these questions, this paper describes a youth arts project and research. Three stakeholder viewpoints, the artists, health workers and young people, are examined to draw out explanations and understandings of art, therapy, and health related to young people’s mental health in an Australian context. A synthesis of arts and health methodologies were used, including thematic analysis of interviews with participants. This paper investigates the ways in which participant descriptions entwined and blurred ideas and possibilities of practice across the art, therapy and health nexus. These viewpoints add up to much more than each one can offer in singularity. They reveal expanded perspectives with which to consider scope of practice, discipline boundaries, and research gaps pertaining to the role of the arts in youth-specific mental health services.

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