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The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language, cultural and logistical barriers. Arts-based therapies are a promising approach to mitigating such barriers. The purpose of this study was to elicit professional stakeholder perspectives on mental health challenges among refugees, the value of arts-based programs and future directions.

The authors conducted three 90-min focus groups with 19 professional stakeholders in North Carolina, USA. This included mental health professionals, professors and community services/resettlement workers. Participants were identified from professional networks and snowball sampling. Each group was held by videoconference, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed through a team-based approach using applied thematic qualitative analysis.

Interviewees described a need for targeted, culturally compatible mental health services for refugee families, including trauma-informed, family-focused services with language interpretation. Arts-based therapies were viewed as highly acceptable and culturally responsive approaches for understanding distress and building resilience and less stigmatizing than traditional mental health services. Services in schools and community settings would further reduce stigma and minimize logistical barriers. Participants identified needing strong, culturally sensitive assessment tools to measure treatment progress as a key future direction.

The study offers novel insights into the value of arts-based approaches and considerations for program development. The next phase of the project will obtain the perspectives of refugee parents and children to understand client preferences for arts-based therapies.

This study aims to explore the NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) experiences of young people living in impoverished settings.

Methodologically, this study was informed by a qualitative analysis of visual and textual data related to a body mapping exercise with eleven young people who were participants in a four-day start-up workshop in a larger action research project.

The findings reveal that, although being NEET negatively affects young people’s self-esteem, confidence, hope for the future and general well-being, body mapping can help them discover latent assets useful for reducing their insecurities.

Researchers using this method need to be well prepared to deal with possible emotional trauma, and to this end, we provide some guidelines for the effective implementation of body mapping.

After initially positioning this paper within the broader mental health recovery literature, this paper aims to highlight the role that physical activity can play in promoting social inclusion and social recovery for those experiencing mental health challenges.

This conceptual paper draws together the limited, but growing, research on how physical activity can facilitate improved social inclusion and benefit an individual’s recovery.

For individuals suffering with mental health challenges, not being able to exercise their right to inclusion is concerning from a recovery perspective, because experiencing social inclusion is recognised as a facilitator of recovery. Initial research has demonstrated by embracing community inclusion and supporting initiatives such as physical activity programs, mental health services can better facilitate individuals’ journeys towards social inclusion and social recovery.

Future research should appreciate the interplay between inclusion, recovery and physical activity. Collaborating with individuals with lived experience, peer mentors and social prescribing teams to explore options for physical activity within local communities fosters empowerment, social inclusion and ensures interventions align with individuals’ preferences and needs.

Practitioners in health service and community settings should recognise the wide-ranging benefits of physical activity for individuals with mental health challenges, especially in terms of helping their social inclusion and social recovery.

This paper is unique in synthesising the mental health literature relating to social inclusion, social recovery and physical activity. Initial findings show promise, but more attention is needed to explore the relationship between these elements and how individuals experiencing mental health challenges can be supported using physical activity.