Recent research shows the stigma attached to mental health problems remains a significant barrier for many people. Four in ten people in Ireland say they would not tell family, friends or a colleague if they were in distress. Stigma is recognised as one of the main reasons people do not seek help.
Dispelling stigma and encouraging people to seek help is therefore crucial. But what are the most effective ways to do this? Having commissioned research earlier in the year to evaluate Ireland’s current attitudes and behaviours to mental health difficulties, we felt there was a real need to capture the experience of people living with mental health difficulties.
It is one of See Change’s main aims to empower people with lived experience to add their voices to the conversation on changing attitudes and behaviours towards mental health. Lived experience is central to all of our work and we have a fantastic group of 60 ambassadors who courageously share their personal experiences throughout the year as part of our work. However, public speaking and media interviews are not for everyone and it’s important for us to allow people with lived experience to influence public perception of mental health in other ways. It’s also vital that we pursue more creative avenues of capturing people’s experiences in living with mental health difficulties. It’s always a challenge to figure out how best to convey the interiority of mental health difficulties in a way that engages and informs the wider public.
Having recently retrained as a psychotherapist, I was aware of Photovoice as a therapeutic tool in supporting people. Photovoice is a powerful tool that facilitates dialogue and narratives about the person’s lived experience helping to stimulate self-reflection and insight. Each photo acts as a symbol for people’s lived experiences and feelings about a subject, giving the participant photographer the opportunity to reframe that experience.
Empowerment is central to the Photovoice concept and this was an excellent fit with See Change’s objective of breaking down stigma and advocating for dignity in mental health. Photovoice differs from other research in that the participants speak for themselves. It is a person centred approach that recognises the wealth of knowledge people with lived experience possess and emphasises their expertise by allowing them to ‘speak through the lens’. The participants create the research rather than having research done about them.
We all know from our use of social media that images are one of the most impactful ways of communicating. Pictures evoke many things for people and have the power to capture people’s imaginations and draw them in. With Photovoice, the caption therefore is of equal importance. Each one is written by the participant photographer themselves and gives the viewer an insight into their mental health journey.
Raising public awareness is also a central mandate of Photovoice and offers the participants the means to inform the public and contribute to changing attitudes regarding mental health. A lot of the research about mental health and stigma is usually accessed by healthcare professionals and academics. Our aspiration for ‘Look Beyond’ is that the wider public can engage with it in a more immersive way than previous research in this area.
Look Beyond is a participatory photography project conducted by Dr Maria Quinlan (University College Dublin) and Dr Etain Quigley (NUI Maynooth) on behalf of See Change. The project will be launched with an exhibition of selected photographs on Wednesday 25 October at 6.00pm in Smock Alley. For more information and to register to attend please visit seechange.ie/lookbeyond
Event Details
Where: Smock Alley, 6-7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
When: 25th October, @6pm
Panel Discussion
Chaired by John Saunders, Director, See Change
Professor Jim Lucey, Clinical Director, St Patrick’s Mental Health Services
Dr. Maria Quinlan, ‘Look Beyond’ lead researcher
Paul O’Rourke, ‘Look Beyond’ participant
Rick Rossiter, ‘Look Beyond’ participant and See Change Ambassador
If you would like attend the launch you can register here
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