'Art for Anxiety' on display at NHS Maudsley
New exhibition led by Ambient Support.
18 May 2023
Art created by people with lived experience of mental health is being displayed in Maudsley Hospital in partnership with Bethlem Gallery, South London, to promote the importance of art therapy in supporting mental wellbeing. The exhibition, organised by national charity and social care provider Ambient Support, runs throughout May to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW).
Ambient Support launched their 'Art for Anxiety' workshops in several of their mental health services in London to provide safe and encouraging creative spaces for participants to explore MHAW's 2023 theme of 'anxiety'. The art created will be displayed until the end of the month.
Melissa Charlton, Ambient Occupational Therapy Technician, who has a Diploma in Psychology and Applied Sciences, helped to facilitate and co-ordinate the art sessions and observed the participants' experience. She said: 'We encouraged people to talk about the images they created and to begin to look to themselves for meaning and insight. Combined with staff supporting the art sessions, it helped participants promote self-expression, increase self-awareness and self-worth, and decrease stress and anxiety.'
Phil, whose artwork is shown here, said: 'I get inspired when I'm about to take a painting on... before that I'm vacant. I thought that if I included a lot of people in the painting it would seem more daunting... three or four people in my painting shows disarray... it's like meeting a challenge... like a mind block.'
