On World Mental Health Day (10 October 2023), BHN's Mental Health and Wellbeing Trainees hosted the Mental Health Month Creative Showcase at the Victorian Pride Centre. The event featured live music, poetry, creative writing, and photography, providing a platform for people with lived experience of mental health challenges, along with their carers and loved ones, to share their stories through creative expression.
The showcase is part of an ongoing collaboration between BHN and community art partners like the Linden Art Gallery. The art program, which has now been delivered three times, was co-designed with mental health consumers and supported by skilled artists, BHN mental health workers, and peer workers.
Participants engaged in a variety of artistic mediums, including photography, ceramics, painting, and more. A recent evaluation of the program showed high participation rates, positive feedback, and participants expressing increased confidence, with one noting, “I’m not as scared as I thought I was being in public.” And left with “the feeling that we can do things that we didn’t think we could do”.
Mental Health Showcase at VPC
Community Engagement Officer, Christine Phillips and our Mental Health and Wellbeing Trainee, Harry Hayden open the showcase at the Victorian Pride Centre (VPC).
