Salisbury Museum aiding mental health

The Well-City project is a three-year project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.

• All the partners developed links with local artists and creative practitioners.
• Salisbury Museum offered two eight-week courses designed to create moments of learning, discovery, and curiosity throughout the year.
• The first course, The English Venice, explored mixed media art using the museum’s collection of objects found in Salisbury’s medieval drains as inspiration for creativity. Participants in this course were encouraged to look at the objects in different ways and respond artistically through various media such as ink, clay, graphite, and bleaching techniques.
• The second course, Creative Writing for Wellbeing, had a different theme every two weeks and included a range of activities to inspire and increase creative writing skills, particularly in description through close examination of the museum’s objects.

• A key role of the community curator is to focus on engaging audiences who have not previously been involved with the museum, including those from under-represented audiences, such as people with a mental health need.
• To allow people with mental health needs to form a connection to the arts, heritage, landscape, community, and each other.

• People were referred by their primary care provider, third sector organisation, other referring partners, or a self-referral.
• There was a maximum of 12 people per course. This ensured each individual receives the support they need and fosters a sense of belonging.

• The Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage at Manchester Metropolitan University worked with Well-City to evaluate the project.
  • They aimed to balance capturing more quantitative data about participants’ well-being while ensuring the process did not have a negative impact on them.
  • A decision was made to focus less on using well-being scales and to empower participants to define their own well-being goals. 
• The participants had many positive comments about the programme.
  • “The art classes were life changing.”
  • “I feel this creative writing course has given something back into my everyday life and has filled a gap that otherwise would have been really quite empty.”
  • “This group has been inspirational for me and I feel very safe here… I’m feeling more positive and managing stress and anxiety a little better now.”

Each course presented its own challenges:

• Fluctuating participant numbers from session to session, primarily due to participants’ life circumstances, often associated with their mental health needs. So, each session had to be adapted for the participants who were able to attend, revising plans as they were being delivered.
• Extra workload caused by identifying and researching objects from the museum’s collections that would be used to support the session.
• Participants often wanted follow-up information that required further research. We either found the time to do this or encouraged them to do further research themselves. We also invited them to a working group where they could find out more about the drainage collection.
• Maintaining emotional boundaries. It was difficult and sad upon completion of the programme when saying goodbye to participants. Sometimes there were difficult disclosures from participants or mental health incidents. So, plans were implemented to manage the museum team’s well-being. This included weekly meetings to discuss any issues and resolve problems. They also had external clinical supervision for the project team.

• Have external clinical supervision for the project team.
• Work with partners for fresh ideas, problem-solving, and support when dealing with difficult situations.
• No course is the same – each time will be different as the participants are different.
• Be flexible – often, plans will need to change (often at the last minute) as a response to the participants’ needs in the session.
• Have external clinical supervision for the project team.
• Work with partners for fresh ideas, problem-solving, and support when dealing with difficult situations.
• No course is the same – each time will be different as the participants are so different.
• Be flexible – often, plans will need to change (often at the last minute) as a response to the participants’ needs in the session.

• Since there are less than two years of funding, Salisbury Museum plans to expand its current offering by introducing progression pathways.
• Progression pathways will be available for participants who would like to explore engaging with the project in ways other than through taking creative courses. This includes short and long-term mentored volunteering opportunities or personal projects – for example, researching an object in the museum’s collections. Or the opportunity to join Salisbury Museum’s Participant Steering Group.

Amy Hammett
Community Curator, Wiltshire Museum 
01380 727369
amy.hammett@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk