A Kent exhibition based on the local community’s opinions and experiences of mental healthcare in the region is on display in The Beaney Gallery, Canterbury from Saturday 11 January to Sunday 23 February.
Researchers from the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) and the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS), alongside the Kent mental health NHS Trust (KMPT), worked with several communities to explore the future of mental healthcare in Kent to create the exhibition as part of the ‘INTERACT’ project.
Those interviewed from the local community included young people, new mothers, older adults, and members of ethnic minority communities, who gave their views on how they think about mental health and how they see the future of mental health in the region. Participants from a range of diverse communities, whose voices are not often heard as part of national debates on health and social care, creatively captured their lived experiences and understandings of mental health and documented their hopes and expectations to improve mental health outcomes for everyone in Kent.
The INTERACT study aims to ensure that a wide range of views are communicated with all stakeholders involved in mental health care: those at the receiving end of such care and those who provide mental health care. The dialogue and insights from the creative workshops are presented in this exhibition.
The research team working on the INTERACT project team is led by Professor Lisa Dikomitis, Director of CHSS and Director of Research at KMMS. The wider team includes anthropologists, psychiatrists, drama therapists and media scholars.
CHSS is part of Kent’s School of Social Sciences.
‘INTERACT: Imagining the future of mental healthcare in Kent’ is on display on the Ground Floor in The Beaney (11 January-23 February).