People in Norfolk facing mental health challenges have been expressing their creativity ahead of the GoGo Hares trail this summer.

Service users at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), along with staff on the Rollesby, Waveney, Glaven and Thurne wards at Hellesdon Hospital, have been decorating Hope the Hare as part of the GoGo Create element of the art trail.

Hope the Hare is one of the 160 leveret - or baby hare - sculptures being painted by a variety of organisations, schools and clubs across the county.

Art psychotherapist Jake Whitbread and senior occupational therapist Debs Agar, who work in NSFT's central Norfolk acute services, have been working with service users on the project.

The service users chose the name and helped to come up with the design. They have been expressing their creativity and supporting one another while decorating the sculpture.

Mr Whitbread said: 'The whole experience had been very positive for everyone involved as they explored the power of hope in recovery, especially in the area of mental health.

'It was designed as a jigsaw puzzle to symbolise how life does not always fit together and can, at times, require a lot of work to get each piece of the puzzle of our lives to fit, while realising some pieces don't fit together and that is okay and we can develop coping strategies to work round some of the difficult situations that life places us in.'

Hope the Hare will soon be completed and put in storage until it is unveiled along with the other sculptures at the start of the trail.

The GoGo Create sculptures will go on display at locations around Norwich from July 2 to September 2 in an art trail being run by the children's charity Break and Wild in Art.

There will also be a large art trail of 50 hares representing the 50 years since Break was established, and a further 18 around the county.

The large hare trail runs from June 24 to September 8.

Once the trail has finished, Hope the Hare will be returning to Hellesdon Hospital where service users, visitors and staff can continue to enjoy the artwork and the message of hope that it represents.