LENS North West: Part of the National Lived Experience Network (LENS)
The LENS is a network of people who believe in the benefits of creative and cultural engagement to individual and collective wellbeing. Founded in 2018 as part of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Creative Health Family, it’s a sister organisation of the Culture Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
A relatively new initiative, initially for England, LENS consists of a regional structure of nine hubs supported by two regional champions per area and aims to become a beacon for exemplary co-creation, by challenging habitual thinking and ensuring the creative arts are easily accessible for all.
Sue Flowers, is one of two North West regional champions working with artist Ruth Flanagan.
Both Sue and Ruth want to be a proactive voice for those with lived experience of ill-health and are passionate advocates for the role of the arts in addressing peoples’ wellbeing needs. They believe in the power of using creative processes to explore lived realities in order to affect positive change in healthcare delivery.
Specifically LENS North West is interested in exploring how creativity can deepen an understanding of the human experience in medical science and expand empathy; provoke action and reflection around the subjectivity and intersubjectivity that surrounds the lived experience in all forms of ill-health.