We all have mental health; also known as emotional health or wellbeing, good mental health is increasingly being recognised as being as important as good physical health.
Like physical ailments, our mental health can change over time.
About a quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most comment disorders in Britain, according to the 2001 Office for National Statistics’ Psychiatric Morbidity report.
People of all ages and walks of life can be affected by mental health issues, but there is still stigma attached to these problems. People with mental health issues can be isolated from society.
An interest in wellbeing and working with vulnerable or marginalised audiences has led many museums to work directly with people experiencing mental health issues. Others that have collections relating to the history of mental health have engaged with members of the community to include contemporary perspectives and responses to artefacts.
The University College London publication, Using Museum Objects to Improve Wellbeing in Mental Health Service Users and Neurological Rehabilitation Clients, states that: “Museums are increasingly using collections as a bridge to wellbeing, social inclusion and learning, often taking objects beyond the museum site itself into communities.
“Mixed methods research into the benefits of museum object handling sessions in hospitals and care homes showed patients or clients demonstrating an increase in wellbeing and happiness, distraction from clinical surroundings and enhanced communication with staff, carers and family members.”
Creativity
There is a well-established link between mental health and the creative expression, with formal arts therapies used to achieve psychological change on their own or as part of other treatment, including medication.
Art therapists must be trained to postgraduate level and be state registered in order to practice. However, many museums focus on creativity as part of their approach to working with people with mental health issues. While such work isn’t considered art therapy, it can have therapeutic benefits for patients.
The arts have also been used as a tool for raising awareness of mental health.
Earlier this year, key venues in Nottingham, including Nottingham Contemporary, hosted the Acting Out festival, which explored the relationship between the arts, mental illness and modernity. Artists taking part chronicled their own neurosis and also looked at how society deals with mental health issues.
“The arts are a really good way to explore mental health in a non-stigmatising way because it allows you to present human stories that people can identify with,” says Errol Francis, the director of Acting Out. “We wanted to expose mental health and make it normal.”
Francis says museums and galleries are ideal places to challenge stigma around mental health; as well as being perceived as non-threatening and open environments, they are a world away from a hospital settings.
“But museums aren’t always great about being accessible,” he says. “They are often governed by a set of rules for behaviour, and can frown at ‘deviant’ behaviour that is outside the norm. That can really go against people with mental health disorders.”
Another challenge facing museums that want to work with people with mental health issues is sustainability. Projects can be expensive, with staff training and transport often the biggest costs.
In north Wales, a group of museums is trying to overcome this challenge through a collaborative approach to working with people with mild to moderate mental health issues.
The Arteffact project was established in 2011 after five organisations – Oriel Ynys Môn in Llangefni, Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery in Bangor, Gwynedd Archives in Caernarfon, Conwy Archives in Llandudno and Bodelwyddan Castle – discovered that they were all using museum collections to work with these audiences.
Now in its fifth year, the Arteffact partners work together to recruit artists to run 12-week educational courses for small groups of people.
“The participants are the ones we identified as potentially benefiting the most – they live in the community, and often have issues around stress, anxiety or depression,” says Morrigan Mason, the deputy director of Bodelwyddan Castle Trust.
“They are well enough to be able to visit the venues independently but because of their needs and circumstances there is the potential for them to fall through the cracks.”
These participants can be hard to reach. Mason says they may feel overwhelmed by undertaking an accredited course and they don’t necessarily attend day centres.
Participants are recruited through a number of third-party organisations, some of which have previously worked with the partners and others that came on board during the course of the project. Flyers and articles in the local press have proved to be the best ways for people to find out about the courses, although social media is also used to raise awareness.
Funding for the project has been short-term and inconsistent, so the group would like to develop Arttefact into something more sustainable and stand-alone. Now that the project is established, it is looking to establish NHS buy-in.
“We’re looking at how to tackle the issue of short-term funding as part of a six-year plan,” Mason says. “One option is to set up as an independent company so it can stand alone from the partner organisations – it needs to take that leap to become sustainable.”
Like physical ailments, our mental health can change over time.
About a quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most comment disorders in Britain, according to the 2001 Office for National Statistics’ Psychiatric Morbidity report.
People of all ages and walks of life can be affected by mental health issues, but there is still stigma attached to these problems. People with mental health issues can be isolated from society.
An interest in wellbeing and working with vulnerable or marginalised audiences has led many museums to work directly with people experiencing mental health issues. Others that have collections relating to the history of mental health have engaged with members of the community to include contemporary perspectives and responses to artefacts.
The University College London publication, Using Museum Objects to Improve Wellbeing in Mental Health Service Users and Neurological Rehabilitation Clients, states that: “Museums are increasingly using collections as a bridge to wellbeing, social inclusion and learning, often taking objects beyond the museum site itself into communities.
“Mixed methods research into the benefits of museum object handling sessions in hospitals and care homes showed patients or clients demonstrating an increase in wellbeing and happiness, distraction from clinical surroundings and enhanced communication with staff, carers and family members.”
Creativity
There is a well-established link between mental health and the creative expression, with formal arts therapies used to achieve psychological change on their own or as part of other treatment, including medication.
Art therapists must be trained to postgraduate level and be state registered in order to practice. However, many museums focus on creativity as part of their approach to working with people with mental health issues. While such work isn’t considered art therapy, it can have therapeutic benefits for patients.
The arts have also been used as a tool for raising awareness of mental health.
Earlier this year, key venues in Nottingham, including Nottingham Contemporary, hosted the Acting Out festival, which explored the relationship between the arts, mental illness and modernity. Artists taking part chronicled their own neurosis and also looked at how society deals with mental health issues.
“The arts are a really good way to explore mental health in a non-stigmatising way because it allows you to present human stories that people can identify with,” says Errol Francis, the director of Acting Out. “We wanted to expose mental health and make it normal.”
Francis says museums and galleries are ideal places to challenge stigma around mental health; as well as being perceived as non-threatening and open environments, they are a world away from a hospital settings.
“But museums aren’t always great about being accessible,” he says. “They are often governed by a set of rules for behaviour, and can frown at ‘deviant’ behaviour that is outside the norm. That can really go against people with mental health disorders.”
Another challenge facing museums that want to work with people with mental health issues is sustainability. Projects can be expensive, with staff training and transport often the biggest costs.
In north Wales, a group of museums is trying to overcome this challenge through a collaborative approach to working with people with mild to moderate mental health issues.
The Arteffact project was established in 2011 after five organisations – Oriel Ynys Môn in Llangefni, Gwynedd Museum and Art Gallery in Bangor, Gwynedd Archives in Caernarfon, Conwy Archives in Llandudno and Bodelwyddan Castle – discovered that they were all using museum collections to work with these audiences.
Now in its fifth year, the Arteffact partners work together to recruit artists to run 12-week educational courses for small groups of people.
“The participants are the ones we identified as potentially benefiting the most – they live in the community, and often have issues around stress, anxiety or depression,” says Morrigan Mason, the deputy director of Bodelwyddan Castle Trust.
“They are well enough to be able to visit the venues independently but because of their needs and circumstances there is the potential for them to fall through the cracks.”
These participants can be hard to reach. Mason says they may feel overwhelmed by undertaking an accredited course and they don’t necessarily attend day centres.
Participants are recruited through a number of third-party organisations, some of which have previously worked with the partners and others that came on board during the course of the project. Flyers and articles in the local press have proved to be the best ways for people to find out about the courses, although social media is also used to raise awareness.
Funding for the project has been short-term and inconsistent, so the group would like to develop Arttefact into something more sustainable and stand-alone. Now that the project is established, it is looking to establish NHS buy-in.
“We’re looking at how to tackle the issue of short-term funding as part of a six-year plan,” Mason says. “One option is to set up as an independent company so it can stand alone from the partner organisations – it needs to take that leap to become sustainable.”