Balham Library Collaboration

Well-Being Through Creativity

3 Month Group Project

Design an experience for those suffering from mental health conditions to gain control & reduce negative emotions.

Anxiety can eventually rises to chronic or irreversible disorders like depression and suicide. It starts off small, but when it's not kept under control or maintained, it can grow out of control, making you feel helpless, bewildered, frightened, and confused. So, managing anxiety becomes a problem that has to be solved. It is important for individuals to understand their concerns in order to ask for advice and discover the most effective way to help overcome them.

How can we design an experience for people with these conditions that allows them to gain control and reduce symptoms of anxiety?

The toolkit's objective is to allow people to experiment with new approaches to regulate their mental health using pictures or objects they have made. We intend to assist people in imagining and utilising these items as a means of regaining control when they feel overwhelmed by anxiety and stress or are ruled by mental health.

The toolkit provides methods to utilize creativity and imagination as guidance. It may be used inside, outside, or anywhere they feel most at peace. We've added clay, paint, tissue paper, and wooden sticks to the box for them to use during the activity. They are also encouraged to use items found in their surroundings, such as cardboard, leaves, soil, tree branches, and flowers.

During the final workshop, we gave them a brief introduction to the product and how they could explore the exercises. We allowed two participants at first to enter the space to give them room to relax, explore then create. Stepping back we allowed them to do as they please to allow the instructions to guide them and test to see how they would react throughout the process.

Questionnaires

Using the qualitative research method we interviewed people between the age groups of 20 to 30.

Creating a set of questions to discuss and explore others' understanding of anxiety, what triggers are involved, and how they cope with anxiety. Do they have their own method?

During the interviews, we asked them to draw a form of their negative emotions, Colour, size, representation, space, and environment.

Researched Therapy Methods

Researching therapy methods, to understand the process and structure they use to help others overcome mental health. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – emphasises how your ideas, beliefs, and attitudes impact your feelings and behaviour while teaching you coping mechanisms for a variety of issues.

Applied relaxation therapy – this involves learning how to relax your muscles in situations where you normally experience anxiety.
Eye Movement Desensitisation (EMD) –This is a psychotherapy treatment, originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) – This teaches individuals to recognise and let go of negative emotions' ruminative ideas, encouraging them to just be open to what is present and experience it fully without aversion or attachment.
Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT) – This is an additional method of cognitive behaviour therapy that is employed to lessen the frequency and severity of nightmares, such as those that patients with post-traumatic stress disorder suffer (PTSD). Rescripting images enables the affected person to alter a nightmare's outcome so that it doesn't cause them any distress.

Example of the IRT process, rescripting nightmares by Vicious circle of nightmares. Adapted and translated from Imaginatie-en rescripting therapie voor nachtmerries (p. 15) by Van Schagen et al. (2012), Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.

Defining through Workshop Observations

Defining the objective by Investigating the methods used to treat mental health conditions and how they could be implemented during our research. We went to two different types of workshops and communities that help people with mental illnesses experience and observe the Users Journey and Behaviours.

Balam Library workshop
Participants' journey and experiences

The workshops were designed to provide anybody experiencing stress, anxiety, loneliness, or depression with free, easily accessible support. These workshops were led by qualified facilitators who used positive psychology, mindfulness, and art therapy techniques. guiding us through tasks while being compassionate and attentive to help us process thoughts and feelings in order to become more self-aware. They were designed to be entertaining, soothing, and educational.

During the start of the workshop, we noted many therapeutic approaches implemented into the course, such as applied relaxation therapy. When discussing our drawings/paintings, we used Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to explain our feelings, as well as Imagery Rehearsal Therapy (IRT). Using creative exercises, IRT was utilised to rescript our negative feelings.

Designed Method

This designed diagram draws inspiration from Van Schagen's "Vicious Circle of Nightmares." also known as Imagery Rehearsal Therapy. With this method, we are exploring how Negative emotions can be formed into visual forms to rewrite them physically using creative methods to create a coping mechanism.

The individual would explore their current feelings rather than revisit their prior traumas or dreams. This approach serves as a coping mechanism.

Behavioral Designing & Workshop Facilitating

The official workshop in collaboration with the Balham Library. For this workshop, the Balham Library sent out an Eventbrite invitation to those who had previously attended Katie's workshops to join our collaborative workshop. We wanted to engage with people outside of the university and communities that focus on mental health programs to see how they would react to the structure we designed.

During the setup of the workshop, we included bean bags for comfort when seated on the floor, creating a tranquil ambiance. There was also soft lighting, blankets, plants, and a diffuser with lavender-scented oil. These items contributed to the environment's cosiness, care, and relaxation.

Implementing a variety of creative activities to test our diagram. This allowed our participants to explore various items on the table, such as clay, markers, colouring paper, tissue paper, paint, lollipop sticks, and fresh flowers.

The Artifact Anaysis

The Design

Explore patterns utilising the shapes and forms developed from the workshop outcomes when producing their final form that depicts their coping mechanism.

Experimenting with texture and forms for the first time using the software blender, transforming the circle into shapes to represent the patterns from the workshop. Gradually shifting to produce calm and a visual ASMR.

Creating a 3D version of the immersive space, which is designed to represent an alternate world, for people with negative emotions to visit a little replica of paradise complete with natural components such as grass, trees, and rocks.

Leaflet of the guided exercises
Condense version of the methods we have explored and created throughout this project.

Feedback from our final participants;

“I feel floaty and connected with my energy as a person, connected to who I am”

“Let’s go crazy, let's be creative, let's be calm, let's make something pretty, let's go chaotic, a mix of energy put into the form - it helped me Get in touch with the emotion”

“It is therapeutic as it is difficult to convey and speak about myself, and using art and with crazy ways was a nice way to get in touch with my feelings”

“It was great to have people within the space as I was able to talk to people and be more of myself”

“Enjoyed the tunnel as it reminded me to go from reality to relaxation”

“Being put in a mysterious room and crawling into it felt exciting, and felt like revisiting my youth, especially with the different material”

These are the selected feedback of our final outcomes which reached our aims throughout this project.

Overall, the developed product and procedures are not meant to be a replacement for medical guidance, and anybody suffering from mental health difficulties should seek the assistance of a doctor or other professional health expert. However, we have created temporary solutions to assist them get by from day to day. Our toolkit includes a variety of methods for aiding, understanding behavioral, and visualising such forms of escape.