See Me North

See Me North encourages services to see people who have experience of homelessness (past or present) as whole people with strengths, talents, resilience, and aspirations rather than defining people by their needs.

Taking an integrated creative health approach to homelessness moves the system from a focus on meeting the most basic needs (food, water, shelter, safety) to one which is able to meet the more complex emotional, social, and spiritual needs we come with as complex human beings (acceptance and belonging, purpose and fulfilment) and to facilitate personal growth and development.

Helix Arts have partnered with Northumbria University on one of the 12 projects in the ‘Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities’ programme.

Helix Arts has worked with Local Authorities and other key stakeholders to identify partners and homeless priorities based on place. This resulted in prioritising where See Me North art partners weren’t already working, as well as methodologies.

As part of the first stage, we carried out an active research stage of led by artist Kirsten Hall. Kirsten met with groups of women with experience of homelessness from across the region. Kirsten also produced a piece music to reflect the insights learnt throughout the work.

Through this research key themes emerged that were incorporated into project.

Themes include;

• How that safe feeling flips;
• Homelessness isn’t a choice;
• Feeling Homeless at Home;
• Difficulties after leaving
• Discrimination
• Invisible Homeless. 

Across 2025 – 2026, partners, professionals, and people with lived experience of homelessness have come together to shape See Me North through a series of creative and reflective workshops.

At Northumbria University, experts by experience and arts partners explored the impact of stigma and shared powerful creative work, including testimonies and poems that resonated strongly with everyone present.

Participants described the emotional realities of homelessness, including feeling “like a ghost” or “feeling homeless at home,” helping the group understand the complexity behind these experiences. This took place against the backdrop of a 53% rise in homelessness in the North East in 2024.

Into early 2026, work continued at Helix Arts, where professionals and women with lived experience gathered for open, brave conversations about what “home” means, how homelessness is experienced by women, and how stigma shapes those experiences. These sessions highlighted the importance of being seen, heard, and understood beyond circumstance.

We welcomed participants from Oasis Community Housing who joined us to take part in a workshop using Lego as a creative tool to express their stories.

This hands‑on approach encouraged people to explore the question:

“What does homelessness look like when you build it, not explain it?”

The models and discussions offered fresh insight into how people navigate instability, identity, and hope.

As a result of our first phase of the project, we partnered with homeless charity Emmaus in South Shields.

Working with artist Sally Anderson, over the last few months, we have been running a series of visual arts workshops with women may be currently experiencing or have had experienced homelessness. Through these workshops we have explored different artforms to allow participants to creatively express their experiences and share insights.

Watch this space to see some of the artwork they have produced.

This project has been funded by Department of UK Research Innovation (UK RI).