ALI WINSTANLEY

With a background in Psychology, I have always been interested in the role the arts can play in health, wellbeing and exploring the mind-body connection.

After working as an arts and wellbeing facilitator in community and clinical settings since 2012, in 2016 I moved into collaborations with scientists and health academics at institutions such as King’s College London and UCL.

I have a particular interest in how the arts can help people express experiences of chronic ‘invisible’ conditions and how character illustration and storytelling can build resilience in children.

My academic projects include:

My Memory Forest - a children’s book I created alongside psychologists at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at Kings College London to help boost resilient thinking in 6-8 year olds. This was a research trial with a follow-up further funded by the British Council with very positive results around child wellbeing.

Making the Invisible Visible: Fatigue in IBD - with Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London, working with patients with inflammatory bowel disease to explore the role of the arts in expressing experiences of fatigue through running creative workshops and creating illustrated flashcards for use in clinical practice.

Skyscape - a project with nursing staff at King’s College London, exploring the impact of photographing the sky on staff and student wellbeing where I was involved in running workshops and curating online platforms.

In 2023, I currently act as an Arts and Health specialist and consultant, running workshops, courses and seminars about the arts and health, creative approaches to medicine and public engagement with research for data scientists, researchers, medical students and clinicians at the Wellcome Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS) at UCL, Queen Mary University London and Brighton and Sussex Medical School

In 2023 I have received an Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice grant to develop a children’s mental health resource. My aim is to develop a further illustrated publication to address the current mental health crisis for children and young people,and I am currently in the scopng stage for this with a number of primary schools in East Sussex and East London.

My ten years as an Arts and Health facilitator involved designing and delivering arts and wellbeing projects in clinical settings such as Great Ormond Street Hospital and Homerton Hospital Neurorehabiltation Unit with people with acquired brain injuries, as well with adults, children aand families in a range of educational and social care settings such as learning disability day centres, schools in areas of deprivation, dementia care homes and community centres in the UK and Finland.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 I also ran Zoom Arts and Wellbeing sessions for vulnerable adults in Brighton - more here.

I am always excited to hear about new opportunities or collaborations in this area, please contact me: aliwinstanley@gmail.com

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Arts and Health clients and collaborators:

Kings College London, Great Ormond Street Hospital, The Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, Royal Society of Medicine, Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Wellcome Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, Centre for Primary Care and Public Health at Queen Mary University, Youth Resilience Unit at Queen Mary University London, Maudsley Learning, Neurorehabilitation Unit at Homerton Hospital, Westminster Arts, Trust Thamesmead, Kings College Arts in Mind Festival, Grace Eyre, Kids Company, Helsinki Night of the Arts Festival.

Illustrator and Artistic Co-Lead on acclaimed children’s mental health book ‘My Memory Forest’ aimed at boosting resilient thinking in children and teaching them to integrate negative memories.

With support from the Cultural Institute at Kings College London, in 2017 I worked alongside research psychologists Dr Jennifer Lau and Dr Victoria Pile at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience on the concept and illustration of this children’s mental health intervention that was later piloted with 6-9 yer olds.

Feedback from key mental health professionals on My Memory Forest:

“Your work looks wonderful. What a great resource for children and families!” - Dr Rick Hanson, Psychologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley

“Thank you so much for sending me your beautiful book, My Memory Forest. What a wonderful project” - Dr Paul Gilbert, Clinical Psychologist & Founder of Compassion Focused Therapy

The initial pilot with school children and their parents in London showed encouraging early results, and in 2018 the project received further funding from the British Council to create an updated version of the book. This further trial also yielded positive results around mood and wellbeing.

In June 2018 we were invited to run family workshops focused on book at the Arts in Mind Festival in Camberwell. We also presented the project at a translational research seminar for researchers at the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health at Queen Mary University London in July 2018.

The publication and project received widespread acclaim and positive feedback from a number of mental health professionals and charities.

The project is now written up into a research paper: Targeting image-based autobiographical memory in childhood to prevent emotional disorders: Intervention development and a feasibility randomised controlled trial. This was published in the Behaviour Research and Therapy Journal 2022.

Kings College links to the project here

Please email me with any queries about the project, or for information about how to obtain a copy of the book:

aliwinstanley@gmail.com

With nearly a decade of experience collaborating with leading universities, including UCL, the University of Oxford, King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London and Brighton & Sussex Medical School, I design and facilitate creative co‑design workshops that bring patients, researchers, clinicians, and scientists together. These sessions build shared understanding, spark collaboration, and generate outputs that strengthen public engagement and research impact.

Combining a background in the arts with training in counselling, psychology, and group facilitation, I create sensitive, inclusive spaces where people feel safe, heard, and able to explore ideas openly. My approach supports empathy, honest dialogue, and meaningful creative thinking.

I have extensive experience working with people living with bowel cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathy, mental health conditions, and autism. I also design and deliver arts‑based courses for medical students and healthcare professionals, helping them develop empathy, communication skills, and reflective practice.

Alongside my external work, I am Research Culture Manager at King’s College London, giving me a unique vantage point across both academic and creative sectors. I work confidently in-person and online, tailoring each format to the needs of the group.

What I Offer

Co‑design / PPIE workshops for academics, clinicians, and patient groups to build partnerships and inform research.

Creative engagement sessions with people living with chronic illness, neurodivergence, or underrepresented health experiences.

Training for researchers in creative thinking, empathy-building, and public engagement methods.

Specialist workshops for neurodivergent adults, particularly autistic participants.

Arts‑based teaching for healthcare students and professionals to explore patient storytelling, empathy, and wellbeing.

Selected Projects

UCL & University of Oxford - Designed and co‑led online PPIE workshops with bowel cancer patients exploring their views on A.I. in diagnosis and treatment.

Queen Mary University of London - Creative co‑design session with children in Newham to explore mental health and design a new logo for the Youth Resilience Unit.

King’s College London - Co‑designed an art‑based workshop with IBD patients exploring fatigue; resulting flashcards are now used in clinical settings.

Brighton & Sussex Medical School - Creative Health and Nature‑based courses for medical students, supporting patient storytelling and student wellbeing.

University of Sussex - Facilitated creative sessions with neurodivergent adults as part of colour psychology research.

Get in Touch

For a conversation about how creative methods can support PPIE, enrich research outputs, and deepen engagement:

aliwinstanley@gmail.com

0779 307 2966

Testimonials

“Ali Winstanley was a fantastic facilitator.  At the height of the Covid 19 pandemic she ably managed a series of online arts mediated engagement sessions with patients and our researchers, allowing all to share and learn from each other in a stimulating and open environment” - Simon Watt, Public Engagement Manager, Wellcome Institute for Interventional and Surgical Sciences, UCL

“Ali’s enthusiasm for health research, talent for design and genuine engagement and empathy with neurodivergent workshop participants really helped open up the discussion during the workshop, enabling participants to share difficult feelings in creative ways.  She has such a valuable skill and we certainly hope to work with her again” - Professor Anna Franklin, Director Sussex Colour Psychology Lab, University of Sussex

“Ali was brimming with creative ideas and continued to think flexibly and creatively to put together an incredible workshop plan that was very structured. Ali engaged very well with the young people, many of whom commented that they were excited to attend more workshops delivered by Ali” - Caitlin Aspinall, Youth Resilience Unit, Queen Mary's University London

In 2018 and 2019 I worked alongside Dr Wladzia Czuber-Dochan at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kings College London as a Cultural Lead on the project ‘Making the Invisible Visible: Fatigue in IBD’ supported by the Cultural Institute at Kings.

The project had the aim of exploring and ‘making visible’ the often hidden experiences of fatigue in people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease such as Crohns and Colitis.  

I co-facilitated a workshop with patients from around the UK discussing their experiences of fatigue and IBD and introduced arts activities including collage, drawing and sculpture for participants to depict their physical and psychological symptoms.

Drawing on these outputs, I produced ten illustrated flashcards inspired by the workshop. These were exhibited at Bush House, Kings College on The Strand in February 2019 and will be used in clinical practice with patients to help them express their symptoms to their loved ones and clinicians.

The patient participants had ongoing input into the creative process and reported positive experiences of their involvement. The project received acclaim from Crohns and Colitis UK as well as positive coverage from IBD organisations in the USA, New Zealand, Poland and Norway as part of world IBD Day in May 2019. Myself and Wladzia were also invited to write an article for the European Federation of Crohns and Colitis Associations (EFCAA) publication in October 2019.

Both Wladzia and myself are keen for the project to help as many people as possible. The flashcards can be provided as a PDF to be printed and used as patient resources and in clinical practice - if you would like to be sent this or any further information about the project, please contact: aliwinstanley@gmail.com or wladzia.czuber-dochan@kcl.ac.uk

We are also very interested in disseminating the project further through talks or written articles, and are open to further arts and health collaborations in the area of inflammatory bowel diseases - please contact us to talk further.

From May 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic I ran a series of online Arts and Wellbeing Zoom sessions for vulnerable adults in Brighton through Wellsbourne Healthcare CIC and Brighton Migrant Centre, funded by the National Lottery Community fund. Sessions lasted 1.5 hours long and participants used paint, pencils, plasticine and online tools to create imagery exploring a specific colour in each session, with discussions around positive associations and memories connected to them.

If you are elsewhere in the UK and are interested in online arts and wellbeing sessions on a one to one or group basis please contact me for more info: aliwinstanley@gmail.com

I am an experienced photographer of people, with 18 years experience profiling hundreds of individuals on the streets and at events around the UK, Europe and Japan.

My portraits have also been used to champion positive ageing and cultural diversity by a range of people such as The Guardian Weekend, The School of Life, Royal College of Art, Royal Society of Medicine, Visit Finland, Institute of Longevity, Age Culture Humanities Journal and European Network of Ageing studies. One of my portraits was also used in the Pan Macmillan book ‘How to Age’ by Anne Karpf.

In 2020 and 2021 I also photographed and interviewed individuals over 50 for the Centre for Ageing Better #AgeProud campaign

I originally worked from 2005 to 2015 as a fashion photographer on the streets around the UK and Europe working with publications and clients such as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The i newspaper, Vogue, Elle, Grazia, Glamour, Nylon Japan, WGSN, and Virgin Airlines documenting poeple at events such as London Fashion Week, Ascot and London Olympics 2012.

I am also a trained Oral History Interviewer and regularly interview my subjects about their lives.

I am always open to commissions in this area. Please contact me for more information: aliwinstanley@gmail.com

My character illustration work is inspired by Scandinavian folklore and landscapes, Japanese character culture, deep sea monsters, 1970’s psychedelic animations, Eastern european illustration, Jungian psychology, dreams, nightmares and subconscious wanderings.

I incorporate these characters into installations and have also created illustrated publications My Memory Forest and Trypophobia.

In 2023 I have received Arts Council funding to create a further illustrated mental health resource for children, and am currently in the scopng stage for this at schools in East Sussex and East London.

Please contact me if you would like to know more about my character illustration work: aliwinstanley@gmail.com

In 2017 I created a Limited Edition miniature book Trypophobia with Hastings based publisher Micro Library books, the first in their ‘Featured Artist’ series.

Trypophobia is a proposed phobia of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps

The book is handmade, concertina-folded containing 12 full colour illustrations

£7

Please email aliwinstanley@gmail.com to stock or purchase.

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TRYPOPHOBIA

LIMITED EDITION OF 50

12 CONCERTINA PAGES

DIMENSIONS: 35 X 50 X 8MM

PEA GREEN RAYON COVER

I create cut-outs, collages and paintings and often collaborate with other artists to transform small spaces using colour, shape and pattern.

I have exhibited in the UK, Berlin and Finland and sometimes collaborate with painter Rachael Macarthur.

I am always interested in opportunities to create installations and exhibitions in venues in the UK, Europe and beyond: aliwinstanley@gmail.com

I have an extensive archive of images from travel around Japan, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, the Baltic states and Scandinavia.

I like to capture beguiling colours and textures from forgotten times, evocative spaces and intriguing tableaux.

Since 2009 I have curated an archive of 20th century book design Kuriosas celebrating the illustration, architecture and graphics I have come across on my travels to Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and around Europe, time living in Berlin and experience as an antiques and vintage collectables trader.

I also interview international artists, feature trips to obscure places and muse over 20th century visual culture. Kuriosas has been featured by GRAD gallery specialising in Russian culture in London as well as Brain Pickings in the US, as well as attracting positive feedback from arts academics, collectors, illustrators and comedy writers.

Visit here: www.kuriosas.com