Comfort In Connection Project

This project was delivered by Carla Smith and Jess Wilson-Leigh
in collaboration with English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Aberdeen.
This project was part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival
2025 and funded through the Regional Participatory Arts Fund.

  • As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2025, artists Jess Wilson-Leigh and Carla Smith led two creative workshops with a group of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learners through Aberdeen City Council.

    Many of the participants are building new lives in Aberdeen, and the sessions offered space to connect, create, and share experiences together.

  • This project was part of Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2025 and funded through the Regional Participatory Arts Fund.

    The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) has been running since 2007, presenting hundreds of events each year across art forms such as film, music, theatre, writing, and visual art. The festival shows how creativity can open conversations around mental health and support people to live healthier lives.

    Led by the Mental Health Foundation, the UK’s leading charity for mental health, SMHAF brings

    together artists, communities, and organisations to celebrate creativity, share experiences, and challenge stigma.

    Thank you to SMHAF team for the opportunity to deliver this work.

  • With special thanks to the ESOL learning team at Aberdeen City Council who supported the facilitation of this project, in particular Aileen MacAlister, Emma Cresswell and Ana Miranda Ruiz.

Have a look through a digital copy of the book!

Jess and Carla’s collaborative practice is rooted in care, community, and connection. They often work with food and collective making as starting points for shared experience.

Together they deliver projects that prioritise wellbeing, and the power of art to bring people together. Art can offer an alternative way to connect -beyond language - through image, mark, and shared making.

This project celebrates creativity as a tool for building connections, supporting mental well-being, and amplifying voices that are too often unheard.