Mental Health Awareness Week. Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week 2019 will take place from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 May 2019.
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week
Bringing this project into a professional context
Line of enquiry- what have the experiences I have had during this project taught me- what have I learnt from meeting professionals, artists, organisations, attending workshops and facilitating workshops.
What gap can I fill? What can I contribute with my experience, learning and understanding to the public?
Resources?
Opportunities?
The project began ‘exploring arts for health’
Thinking about what is arts for health and different projects that can take place.
Aim:
-To help spread awareness and educate and direct people on arts for health.
-For someone to view the project and learn what arts for health is, and perhaps if they are interested they could refer themselves or someone they know, volunteer or support organisations that already exist.
-These are things that people may have not originally known about or had an interest in before viewing the work.
-Project is to help generate interest and discussion.
– hired by youth groups/ organisations/ schools to deliver informal educational creative workshops based on arts for health and exploring different mental health and well being that young people are faced with today.
Who is our audience?
Or is this personal? a journal?
Why am I doing this project?
Who is it for?
I am doing this project as I want to learn more about arts for health community and projects that are going on within the city.
I have always been interested in becoming an art therapist,
Art therapy and arts for health are not well known professions and I think it’s important to build a platform of discussion to help spread understanding and awareness.
When I heard about arts for health I was immediately intrigued and I wanted to learn more and see how I can get involved.
The project has developed into a networking and learning opportunity, as well as broadening my understanding of what opportunities are out there for me to get involved with after I graduate.
As well as this project being personal, It is also the beginning foundation of an arts for health platform, bringing together organisations onto one network and highlighting to the public the projects and work that is going on within the city.
There are many blogs online on arts for health is, but they can get complicated with research and academic language- not allowing easy access and digestible information for the public to access information out there.
I aim to create an online platform of watered down information to provide access to people from every walk of life.
Freya is putting together a publication of our work to exhibit for the exhibition. I was initially considering making publication as well, but after thinking about it I decided this was not the right thing for me to put together to make the most of this project.
Firstly- this project was collaboratively put together, so the outcome should also be collaborative. Making two publications would be counter productive.
Secondly- I would like to continue this work once I graduate as I feel it is the beginning foundation of something great that I want to pursue. The project has given me insight and networks within the arts for health community, and I have been able to contact and connect with professionals with confidence as I have an already established project that I am trying to develop. Every person that I have met and networked with has been encouraging and supportive – which has been even more of a reason I want to get involved further after graduation. I hope to continue this work, finding more projects to feature and facilitate more workshops.
There are not enough arts for health projects around, and I want to fill in the gap and help informally educate through creative workshops, whilst spreading the latest projects and insight into the world of arts for health for the public to access.
Creating a book at this stage I feel would be a ‘conclusive’ package of a project, which isn’t something that I want to achieve. I don’t want this to be the end, I want it to be the beginning foundation of something bigger. So for me it was appropriate to create something that could be continuously updated on the latest within the arts for health community, and a place to contact and book a session to run a creative workshop on the topic. A website and social media platforms Instagram and Facebook are great platforms that can be accessed by the public. I will have to slowly build up a way to promote the online sites to try reach a larger audience, but for now, as it is the foundation, I am connecting online with other arts for health and art therapy online platforms- which should slowly gain interest and traction within the community, and then to branch out into the public when it’s more established. Every one has the ability to access these platforms and be constantly updated on what’s going on within arts for health through my networking and engagement.
This project has only started to open doors and opportunities. I feel a snow ball effect, each person I meet directs me to something new to explore. There are so many projects and organisations out there, my aim is to find out more, visit, collaborate, network and share/ promote online to the public online.
What have I learnt through the process to help me to move forward?
How has my project changed since the proposal?
What experience have I had?
What professionals have I learnt from?
Do I have an argument? something I want to highlight?
Before this project took lift off I was unsure on what I was going to do after university. I applied for a primary teaching role at Teach First, which I was fortunate enough to be successful with my application and Assessment. I felt that this path was a good route to take- maybe even a safe one.
However, ‘exploring arts for health’ has shown me many other avenues I could go down- I have met artists and arts for health professionals who have answered my questions and given me guidance on what steps I could take. I have even applied to a summer internship at 42nd street that I only found out about through this project (interview next Thursday). I have discovered many different volunteering roles I can take part in to help build my experience working with vulnerable people. This project has widened my perspective of opportunities available, giving me confidence, in which I have acted on differing my Teach First offer as I would like to see how this project develops after university and the arts for health projects I can volunteer with or work in.
Initially my project agreement/ proposal I had many different ideas that were unrelated:
-Healthy knees, working with the science dept. to create an immersive visual space at cancer research runs about healthy knees.
-Life outdoors, Ideas on the benefits of being outside, how we can creatively play outdoors.
-Late, science and Industry museum, arts for health workshop.
These initial ideas were early stages of things we could develop.
The funding for healthy knees project fell through- which in hindsight was the best thing that could have happened as it freed up our time and I realised that building on the arts for health workshop would help me to build up the beginning experience and foundation for the career I want to go pursue.
Arts 4 Health
‘Mindfulness Painting Experience is a powerful, intuitive, spiritual practice. It is a creative practice of meditating with your brush in your hand. … Mindfulness Painting Experience is an opportunity to discover and interact with your intuition and creativity by being mindful while using paint, paper and brushes. ‘
This is a workshop that I delivered at Mahdlo on my own. I planned this activity based on what was most appropriate for Mahdlo, being more of a pop in session then a full length one.
Aims: Mindful Painting whilst taking part in discussions on “What is arts for health?”, To create a visual representation of mindful painting based on arts for health.
Objectives: Tape down the phrase ‘Arts 4 Health’, let the young people free style paint, mindfully to the music, whilst discussing ‘what is arts for health’ and how they can use it.
This workshop attracted quite a lot of young people,
The factor to draw their interest was “what is arts for health? what does that mean? ” and that is how the conversation and activity starts….
This is more engaging then if it was just free painting on it’s own, as it is based on a focal point that can be engaged with throughout.
At the end I peeled off the tape so the poster read ‘Arts 4 health’, this is now being displayed in the Youth zone.
What did I learn? How can this be developed?
This workshop was a change of plan as I did not expect to be delivering the workshop on my own. For the pop in styled session, it was really appropriate, and Mahdlo were really pleased to have a final outcome that is bright and engaging, to display in their centre.
How can this be improved? It would be a good idea to develop painting images that relate to arts for health? maybe different artistic materials, or things related to mental health?
Perhaps have prompt cards with a focus point to talk about at different stages of the painting? Try finding new ways to direct a conversation…
Tweeted
After delivering our discussion based workshop at Mahdlo youth zone on mental health with the young people, one of the staff members was walking around with a NHS representative. They were so impressed with the display that they tweeted the work!
It’s great to get positive feedback and reactions like this after a workshop as it fuels your motivation to develop the workshop and see where I can take it for future projects.
Exploring Arts For Health 