Urban Arts Base is an innovative community arts project aiming to assist young people with mental health issues in their recovery. Urban Arts Base provides a fun, safe and youth friendly environment where young people can regain the confidence and skills necessary to re-engage with education, employment, vocational training and social and community networks.

Urban Arts Base was established in 2000 by a Steering Committee of youth mental health clinicians and consumers who were concerned that young people with mental health problems were socially isolated, felt marginalized by their mental health problems from existing mainstream youth services, and were disinclined to access health or mental health services.

Urban Arts Base continues to and has been addressing this gap in services over the past 7 years by using unique creative arts programs as effective tools to connect with young people with mental health issues through our general centre based program and through our mobile community “Art Reach” program. Urban Arts Base is a program of Waverly Action for Youth Services (WAYS) and works in partnership with the Prince of Wales Hospital Eastern Suburbs Mental Health services.

Being a non medical model Urban Arts Base has successfully provided a space for people to join in and be a part of an enterprise that has successfully held a number of exhibitions and community based projects

Woollahra Council, through its community development program has highlighted the importance of supporting local residents experiencing mental health issues. To this end, Council acknowledges the professionalism and invaluable impact this service has on the individual, families and the wider community and has provided financial support and currently sits on the steering committee.

• The general program provides art, music and drama groups for either individual or group projects such as painting, film, sculpture and music. This program is provided 3 days a week.
• UAB’s outreach program ‘Art Reach’ is an innovative new model of mental health support using art groups to connect with isolated young people in community settings, hospitals and youth organisations. For example, The Prince of Wales Hospital General Psychiatric Unit Kiloh is visited twice a year for 3 weeks at a time in July and December each year.

Ollie White
Community Development Officer
Telephone: 9391 7182
Fax: 9391 7044
Email: ollie.white@woollahra.nsw.gov.au