Tackling stigma and promoting recovery through art: The graffiti project

Stigmatizing attitudes and misconceptions about people with severe mental illnesses such as psychosis, severely affect the lives of individuals with these conditions. Research suggests that members of the general public who have more knowledge about mental illness and more personal contact with those affected, are less likely to endorse stigmatising attitudes. Service users themselves also place great importance on social contact with peers as an essential part of their recovery. A school-based project aimed at tackling stigma and facilitating contact between service users and peers within the North East of England is described in detail. The graffi ti project brought together young service users and pupils from a local school to plan, design and paint a run-down subway. Throughout the project, pupils were engaged in regular workshops by professionals from an Early Intervention service in order to discuss their proposed art work but to also learn more about psychosis. The completed subway now includes messages about mental health for passing commuters as well as creating a visual display outlining some of the young people’s personal experiences. The project was evaluated using a pre- and post-questionnaire of the students understanding and knowledge of psychosis, whilst a focus group discussion took place after completion of the subway. Qualitative data are presented from both of these methods and clearly outlines just how successful this project has been in tackling stigma and promoting recovery in the local community

Three-year outcome of Early Intervention Programme for Psychosis (EASY) in Hong Kong

Theme: Brain, Behaviour and Mind 2010 (BBM10) Advancing Psychiatric Care in the East: Moving on - From Science to Servic