Next in our series introducing the 2026-27 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows is Sophie-Jo Peel, Creativity and Health Project Coordinator covering Trust wide inpatient and community mental health services at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Teaching Trust and its linked charities. Here we catch up with Sophie about her research project ‘”Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life” (Picasso) | exploring the use of art to create spaces for recovery‘ and her plans for the Fellowship.
If your research was a film, what would the title be?
Re-designing recovery – a creative journey from admission to discharge.
It is probably more a Netflix 12 – part docu-series exploring the impacts and benefits of creativity on mental health wards. Or it would need to be a Trilogy at least!
What will you be doing during your Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellowship?
I will be co-designing a research study with staff, service users and carers, looking into the impacts of art installations and creativity on acute mental health inpatient wards.
We will do this together in creative sessions, exploring how we might discover the impacts that viewing and interacting with large scale installations, and taking part in creative activities, may have on not only the wellbeing of both staff and service users, but the recovery journey.
What expertise and experiences will you be drawing on?
I have a degree in Fine Art and really believe that colour, creativity and design impact our mood and how we respond to our environment.
My current role as a Creativity and Health Project Coordinator for a mental health trust is centred around using creative health activities and approaches to improve health and care outcomes. We work together with staff, service users and creatives, ensuring everyone feels a sense of ownership of the intervention or installation and that everyone can offer their diverse experience and expertise.
Prior to working in the NHS, I worked in youth and community settings, using my creative background, to bring the community together to create installations to improve the spaces they used or facilitating creative activities for wellbeing.
I really enjoyed watching people get excited in the planning stages, simply just coming together with their community to create something beautiful, giving them a shared sense of achievement, pride and ownership. When I used to facilitate creative sessions, I loved seeing the change in people’s mood, confidence or just how the activity gave people some breathing space and time to switch off from whatever was bothering them.
I would like to see these approaches used more consistently in mental health hospitals to improve the look and feel of the spaces and create a sense of community around making/creating for wellbeing.
Why are you excited about working in the medical humanities?
Through my own lived experience—both personal and professional—I have developed a strong awareness of how we experience healthcare environments, and how engaging with the arts (in most settings) can positively impact our wellbeing. I am really excited to learn from the expertise of others in the medical humanities to grow my own practice through shared learning within an interdisciplinary team, developing my research project and exploring how the evidence can be used to drive meaningful change in health and care settings.
What changes would you like to see as a result of your research?
I would love to see a shift in practice—one where creativity and art, and their role in recovery, are woven into the design of hospital spaces and recovery pathways from the very beginning, rather than introduced at the end.
What interests or hobbies do you have outside of your research that might surprise people?
There is nothing surprising about my hobbies as someone who is passionate about Creative Health! I listen to lots of different genres of music and attend gigs regularly (probably about 3 or 4 per month – predominantly new and emerging artists!).
I am learning to make silver jewellery and am really interested in interior design and seeing how many styles and colours I can squeeze into our home – I would definitely describe it as dopamine décor! I enjoy lots of long walks with our dog out in green spaces and have listened to almost every podcast ever made!
We warmly welcome Sophie to the Discovery Research Platform and look forward to working with her.
Continue reading our interview series with our 2026-27 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows:
- An interview with David McQuillan
- An interview with Fouziya Asim
- An interview with Kate Quinn
- An interview with Maddie Rose-Carbone
- An interview with Sam Slatcher
Find out more:
- Read the announcement of this year’s In Practice Research Fellows
- Find out more about the 2025-26 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows
