Knowledge Resource Bank

Thrive: An Arts-Based Intervention Supporting Youths to Thrive

How findings from Thrive can help your students

Key Insights

Students developed emotional expression, self-reflection and stress-coping skills through art-based group sessions.
Teachers and therapists observed improved empathy, peer bonding, and emotional openness.
Students described experiencing meaningful inner growth and having a safe space for self-exploration, even with modest quantitative results.
To enhance student well-being, it’s important to:
- Integrate expressive arts into curriculum time rather than after school.
- Extend programme duration to give students more time to process their emotions.
- Create a private and confidential environment where students feel emotionally safe and free from judgment or surveillance.

Introduction to Thrive: An Arts-Based Intervention

Research Methodology

Research Findings

What Does This Mean for Teaching and Learning?

Research Team

To learn more about this research, please contact Dr Pamela Grace Costes Onishi at pamela.onishi@nie.edu.sg.

Principal Investigator

Dr Pamela Grace Costes Onishi, Education Research Scientist, Centre for Research in Pedagogy & Practice
Research Scientist, National Institute of Education – Office for Research.

Co-Principal Investigator

Dr Imelda Caleon, Assistant Dean, Impact & Partnerships, OfR Impact & Partnerships
Senior Research Scientist, National Institute of Education – Office for Research

Acknowledgement

This study was supported under Cultural Matching Fund. It was co-administered by The Red Pencil (Singapore) and the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Red Pencil (Singapore) and NIE. Consent from participants of this research were obtained based on ethics approval by Nanyang Technological University IRB ref: IRB-2022-1083.
This knowledge resource was extracted and reconstructed from the published materials from the research team by Ms Radiah Belak and Ms Shee Yi Xuan, Katherine, with input from Dr Pamela Grace Costes Onishi and Ms Lorraine Ow and presented on 15 October 2025.