Photo of Helium Arts Youth Advisory Group members with Helene Hugel at the National Creative Health Programme Launch. Image credit: Julien Behal Photography.
Helium Arts Expands NationwideBringing Creativity to Young Lives Across Ireland
National Creative Health Programme Launches in Dublin
In June 2024, we were thrilled to launch our National Creative Health Programme in hospitals and communities across Dublin.
To celebrate this milestone, we hosted a series of free public events at the Naughton Institute, marking five successful years of our Creative Health programme. The events featured our ‘CREATIVITUDE’ exhibition, which ran throughout the week, and a Cruinniú na nÓg Drop-in Taster Workshop for Families.
Expanding to Dublin marks a significant milestone in Helium Arts’ growth, highlighting the programme’s success in fostering impactful, creative, and transformative partnerships. This expansion also establishes our Mullingar-based charity as a truly nationwide organisation.
Speakers at the event included Dr Judith Meehan, Dean of the Faculty of Paediatrics, Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and Asst Professor in Paediatrics, Trinity College, as well as Fiona Smith, Arts in Health Programme Coordinator, Children’s Health Ireland and parent, Sheila O’Brien. Our Youth Advisory Group also closed the event with a fantastic presentation which emphasised how meaningful Helium Arts is to all of them and how it has helped them find their “tribe”.
It was such an exhilarating week for us at Helium Arts, creating a ripple effect of awareness with heartwarming radio interviews and impactful articles which really illustrate the magic and impact of our work on the lives of children living with health conditions through the eyes of young people who attend Helium Arts workshops and their parents.
On Sunday morning there was an interview with Saoirse, a young person who has taken part in Helium Arts and her Mum Sheila O’Brien, with Helene Hugel, CEO talking on the Alive and Kicking show on Newstalk.
Listen back from 34:39 mins here
Our Board member Dr Pamela O’Connor, Consultant Neonatologist Paediatrician at The Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital and Children’s Health Ireland Hospital Crumlin was also interviewed on RTE Radio 1 Drivetime speaking about the work Helium Arts do and the Dublin launch.
Helene Hugel, CEO & Founder of Helium Arts was also interviewed by TheJournal.ie about How creativity can counteract isolation in chronically ill children.
In the Irish Independent Mum Maria Dunne spoke of how her 10-year-old daughter Jasmine’s life has been transformed by Helium Arts and that ‘It was eye opening for Jasmine to see that there are children like her thriving in the world’.
At Helium we are so pleased to have officially launched in Dublin and we are looking forward to the future opportunities this will bring for us to help bring joy and magic into the lives of more children with lifelong physical health conditions.
Check out some more photos from the launch event below
