Inside outsider art

Are you a mental health professional or trainee with lived experience of mental health difficulties? How about getting creative, and having your artwork included in the Inside Outsider Art Exhibition in Association with in2gr8mentalhealth CIC?

The exhibition will be included in the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and is funded by Thrive Arts. This year's theme is 'Revolution', aiming to create revolutionary change in society and systems.

Outsider Art refers to artwork made by people who live on the margins of society and is commonly associated with artwork created by those who experience mental health challenges. This exhibition will offer a collective sharing of artworks by those who work and train 'inside' the mental health professions, who also experience mental health difficulties and have often felt marginalised as 'outsiders' within the professions. We hope that this event will encourage a change of attitude and practice internationally, synonymous with the ethos of in2gr8mentalhealth CIC – a centre for valuing, supporting, and destigmatising lived experience of mental health difficulties in providers of mental health services. 

Some media sources have encouraged false beliefs about those experiencing mental health difficulties which have contributed towards stigmatised attitudes and behaviours. There have been many campaigns to combat this, but these have made little difference in achieving any long-term change and can unintentionally increase stigma, prejudice and discrimination. This could be because these campaigns have focused on mental health difficulties at an individual level without consideration of the social world around us.

This seems to locate the 'problem' in the person experiencing this distress. In reality, no one is immune to experiencing mental health difficulties including providers of mental health services. Current research indicates that psychologists and doctors are in fact more likely than the general public to experience mental health challenges.

Stigma exists in the mental health systems themselves that we work and train in and can become internalised in the individual. This is sometimes referred to as self-stigma – people begin to agree with the harmful messages they hear about themselves in society. Therefore, both internalised stigma and societal stigma may pull people into the vortex of thinking that mental health difficulties make a person 'incompetent'. Sharing can evoke fears that fitness to practice will be challenged. This has left many practitioners silenced about their lived experiences.

The extent to which we value the lived experience of mental health difficulties in our providers is really the extent to which the mental health scene values lived experience of mental health difficulties at all. When anyone's lived experience of mental health difficulties is truly valued it is reflected in the co-construction and improvement of services today. 

One single, rich human identity

Professionals are increasingly speaking publicly about their lived experience, including the Founder and CEO of in2gr8mentalhealth CIC, Clinical Psychologist, Dr Natalie Kemp, who has been fundamental in creating a platform for others who may wish to share their experience of this dual identity – seen as one single, rich human identity. The Inside-Outsider art exhibition recognises that people have options and choices around how they share their lived experience of mental health difficulties.

We consider how emotionally safe this may or may not feel within today's society due to the challenges that can arise from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. For this reason, we wish to enable representation for those who are in a position where it may feel less safe to be open about their lived experience, so we will offer the option to submit artwork anonymously.

Dr Kemp was also involved in the British Psychological Society's supportive position statement on Clinical Psychologists with experience of mental health difficulties. Other disciplines have also shown an acceptance of the lived experience of practitioners. The British Association of Art Therapists has a special interest group, specifically for dual-experience practitioners. We continue to take every opportunity to build on this further.

We believe a collective sharing by those with dual experience in a creative form may have a powerful influence in creating change societally and systemically. Art making is not only beneficial for our health and wellbeing through expressing experiences which have been oppressed – when viewed by others, art can encourage reflection of one's beliefs and values as new insights can be experienced by the systems around us.

The event, and submitting artwork

The exhibition will be a hybrid event, with artwork on display at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland and simultaneously on an online gallery hosted by in2gr8mentalhealth CIC. The on-site exhibition will be open from 12-19 October, 10 am to 4.30 pm (excluding Sunday 15 October). It's free to the public, and tickets will be available from [email protected]. The opening night on 11 October will see presentations by professionals with lived/living experience.

We very much hope to represent your experience through art in either the physical or virtual space. Artwork will not be limited to visual art forms, and we encourage other creative works such as poetry, photography, creative writing etc. We are also happy to consider any other forms of creativity that anyone wishes to submit. 

We are asking those who wish to submit artwork to think about their lived experience as mental health professionals through the lens of 'Revolution'. This may be a conceptual piece based on the themes but can also include artwork that demonstrates your use of artmaking for self-care.

Submissions are open until the end of July.

For further information, see in2gr8mentalhealth CIC or email Arts Coordinator and Project Lead Don McJimpsey at [email protected] or contact in2gr8mentalhealth or [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter or on Instagram.