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It seems whether you're offered creative therapies often depends on two things: where you live, and how ill you are. Rachel Boyd, the information manager for mental health charity Mind—which has been campaigning against the "postcode lottery" around access to mental health services—says that "for a lot of people it's not on their radar." Creative therapies are often only "available in hospital settings so [people] have to have a crisis before they can get access to them." Add this to an ever-mounting crisis in the mental health sector, and you've got a situation where many people are wanting to engage in the arts as an aid to mental health, but aren't in a situation to do so.That said, there is pressure for more investment in the art-based therapies, and it's coming from a variety of avenues. The push for greater accessibility to the arts from school-age onward is one important step, which campaigns like the petition to include expressive arts in secondary schools are attempting to achieve. There's also the example being set by mental health charities, too—Mind, for example, invested about $60,000 in artistic projects last year through its Creative Therapies fund—and large-scale arts and mental-health events, such as the Southbank Centre's, are showing that people are eager to look to other options to take instead of, or alongside, traditional clinical methods. But as with any strive for change, it begins with the individual."Everyone can be creative," Boyd suggests. "The focus isn't on the work but how you can process your feelings and how you look at yourself. It's useful if people think of it as tools they can use, not skills they have to already have."Nicole de Leiburne, founder of Don't Just Stare, agrees, saying, "Creativity is a general thing. Any human on this planet can be creative… There's art in cooking, there's art in singing, there's in dancing, there's art in so many things."It's too simplistic to suggest the arts can solve the mental health crisis in itself or eradicate the need for medication and therapy, as successful routes to recovery will vary depending on each person, his or her preferences, and his or her own mental health problems. However, with a growing push for using creative means to help traditionally clinical problems, there's some hope that the future will see more funding and debate into how the arts can—and do—improve the mental health of so many of us."The focus isn't on the creative work but how you can process your feelings and how you look at yourself."—Rachel Boyd