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Healing Arts in Times of War

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The Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe and John Slinger MP, convened a high-level roundtable at the House of Commons bringing together Members of Parliament, researchers, veterans, artists, and medical practitioners, on Healing Arts in Times of War.

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Post-Event Briefing

UK Parliament Roundtable

Healing Arts in Times of War

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Executive Summary

The Healing Arts in Times of War Roundtable at UK Parliament convened a cross-sector group of defence and cultural policymakers, WHO officials, military personnel, NGOs, researchers, clinicians, and artists to discuss arts’ role in supporting military health, veteran recovery and civilian resilience during and post-conflict. With a central focus on innovative case studies emerging from Ukraine, the discussion bridged the gap between grassroots initiatives and government policy, demonstrating how the arts can function as “critical human infrastructure” in times of war. This brief outlines key insights and actionable recommendations resulting from the roundtable.

Key Insights

The scale of need requires a systemslevel rethink for war-related trauma recovery
The arts are underutilised as an effective, low-cost treatment for trauma care
Ukraine’s art and health innovation provides transferable learning to other humanitarian settings

Actionable Recommendations

UK-Ukraine Art and Health Partnerships
Build robust evidence base for art/health efficacy
Capacity Building in Ukraine
Healing Arts Ukraine

Read the Post-Event Policy Brief

Voices from the Roundtable

Rt Hon, Lord Vernon Coaker, Minister of State for Defense

"The work that you are doing here and the therapy you are providing to military personnel through the arts is an important way of looking at things...I wanted to attend this roundtable to show that the Defence ministerial team support what you are doing and to recognise it."

Iryna Holubetska, Unbroken Foundation

"The war in Ukraine is impacting our minds, our bodies, and our social fabric every day. Arts-based approaches are allowing people to process trauma in ways that conventional approaches often cannot.
Integrating the arts into health systems is not a luxury in wartime - it is an essential part of recovery and resilience."