Portrait Photos by Richard Nicholson

Claremont Project (Islington)

What is Claremont?

Claremont is about people exploring and discovering their personal, social and spiritual worlds and, through honest and creative exploration, recovering their sense of well being, personal meaning and agency as well as their connectedness with others.

Claremont was the first centre in the UK to offer a range of low cost community-based psychotherapies, arts psychotherapies, and arts-in-health projects and workshops. We offer people of all ages the possibility of taking part in psychotherapy, music therapy, drama therapy, art therapy, animal assisted therapy and a whole range of creative projects geared towards personal development, well being and mental health.

We are based in Islington and primarily serve those living in Islington (although we do offer some services which are less geographically restricted).

Comments from a Claremont Client:

“Before my life was going shopping, going home, going shopping, going home. I was going shopping just to get out. I was really low, really low. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I would call my daughter and say ‘please talk to me’.

My doctor would just tell me to go to luncheon club. He kept trying to put me on tranquillisers saying that they would give me the lift that I need, but now I’m going to go back and say look, (waving a Claremont brochure!) look, this was the lift I needed!

With day centres it’s the same focus: eat, eat, eat, sit, gossip, eat. You want something with a different focus to take your mind off the rubbish! At Claremont the environment is beautiful. Full of friendship, happiness and warmth. I like moving out and exploring. Maybe I’m the only lunatic who likes doing that? If you sit at home you feel sorry for yourself and you get worse.

This has given me a new outlook – it’s fantastic! What more could you ask for?! What would I say to people who were thinking of joining? I would say, if you don’t give it a go, you don’t know what you’re missing!”

Who uses Claremont?

Older People: We have about 450 older people (55+) actively using Claremont’s services. These services are offered with the support of Islington Council and various grant making trusts, such as the Cripplegate Foundation.

Other Individuals: In addition to older people, there are people of all ages using our one-to-one psychotherapy and art psychotherapy services, as well as those involved in our art portfolio building classes and other educational and self development courses. Clinical clients come with a wide range of problems, including problems with relationships, depression and meaning, dying and bereavement, eating/body image, low self esteem, drug and alcohol related problems, panic attacks and sexuality.

In addition to these activities and clients, we partner with other organisations, such as the British Association of Art Therapists, the Royal College of Music, Sadlers Wells, Cubbit Gallery, and Room to Heal, to provide additional events, classes and projects. Our cooperation with Room to Heal, for example, means that we can run a therapy group for refugees.

Other Organizations: Claremont is also used by a wide variety of local, regional and national organisations for office space, meeting rooms, courses, activities and events. These organizations include the British Association of Art Therapists, the Association of Professional Music Therapists, the British Society of Music Therapists, the Stuart Low Trust, the Multicultural Counselling Centre, and the children in care organization, A National Voice. Claremont also offers counselling rooms to external therapists for client meetings.

All of which means that there are many hundreds of people using Claremont each month!

Click here for a general brochure about us:

Claremont brochure (pdf format, 3,116 Kb)

For more detail on us and our vision, please visit our "About Us" page.

If you would like more information on Claremont or would like to lend your support in some way, please contact Paul Tjasink on 020 7689 8090.