Cygnet Churchill’s Mental Health Awareness Week Mural

During last week’s Mental Health Awareness Week, the therapies team at Cygnet Churchill held an opening of a new mural. The mural was painted by service users from different wards at the hospital in a joint Art Therapy and Occupational Therapy group.

The group aimed to empower individuals through creating a collaborative mural and give them a sense of ‘ownership’ of the hospital in which they are currently living. Painting the mural helped with building social skills and team work. It was also a great opportunity for service users to share their experiences and become more resilient by working as a group, and being open to different perspectives.

At the event service users said they felt “proud” of what they had made, and “inspired” by what they saw and heard.

The mural opening brought together service users and staff to reflect on the process of making it, and to share and explore how we can battle loneliness, which was the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week. The event included poems written by service users, problem solving ideas to prevent loneliness and posters for therapeutic groups which can help with feelings or experiences which may result in individuals feeling isolated.

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