Purpose The offender personality disorder (OPD) pathway provides services to people with histories of offending and traits of personality disorder (PD) who are at high risk of violent re-offending. The residential provisions have been developed as psychologically informed planned environments (PIPE), in which socially creative activities form an integral part. Ryan et al. (2018) suggest that social and creative activities offer individuals experiences to increase their understanding of themselves and others. The purpose of this study is to complete a service evaluation exploring how people who live on an OPD PIPE in a woman’s prison make sense of their experiences of a drumming, singing and ceremony group, which was offered to them as part of their provision PIPE. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six service users (between 19 and 42 years old). Findings Thematic analysis identified three themes: emotional regulation, belonging and connectedness and humanising spaces. Research limitations/implications This study used a small sample (n = 6), and all participants were accessing the same OPD provision PIPE. Further, participation was voluntary, and results found may relate to possible biases in a self-selecting sample. The interviewer knew the participants through their clinical work, and despite being informed that participation in this research project would have no bearing on their treatment pathway, some may have participated as a way to demonstrate their compliance with the overall programme. A further limitation relates to the group being evaluated on its own without a comparison group. Practical implications This study has important implications for treatment delivery in prisons, as it demonstrates the therapeutic merit of social creative activities for one of the most complex, high-risk and challenging offender groups. The findings show that the specific combination of the physical act of drumming and the social act of drumming together may create an environment that allows people to heal and overcome both physical and emotional disconnections that have been caused by their trauma. Social implications This study’s findings provide further understanding of the experience of people who have survived trauma. Originality/value Findings suggest that the group provides therapeutic value, offering an alternative to traditional therapy and targets specific difficulties particularly associated with emotionally unstable and antisocial PDs. We suggest that socially creative activities form an important part of the rehabilitation process of complex, high-risk groups. Future research would benefit from focusing on the extent to which experiential learning through socially creative group participation can impact on lasting behavioural change.