the wellcome trust commission
how effective is engagement with theatre or the arts in preventing & treating youth anxiety & depression?
in june 2020, sumunum became one of a select number of teams funded by the Wellcome trust, UK to review the evidence on the aspects of interventions that could make a difference in preventing & treating youth anxiety and depression.
sumunum’s site & research partner in this commission was Udaan - a mental health reform programme by the tata trusts at the regional mental hospital, nagpur.
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each commissioned team reviewed the evidence for one active ingredient. the active ingredients are diverse & cover a range of options in the social development & sciences area to strengthen a unity of purpose - that being, preventing & treating anxiety and depression among the youth.
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our active ingredient was “engagement with drama and the arts”
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we engaged in a participatory insight analysis to review the available evidence on how effective engagement with theatre or the arts is in preventing & treating youth anxiety and depression.
the use of drama & the arts’ allowed us to explore, discuss & solve issues relevant to each individual & their circumstances. our sessions were focused on eliciting each individuals’ personal experience of living with a mental health issue & their journey of navigating through it.
key to our success in the application process was our inclusion of arts-based practices & the vital perspective of those with lived experience of mental health difficulties. the chosen participants were involved in multimodal arts engagement sessions that were tailored to be non-judgemental, safe & inclusive environment for self-expression & participation.
in addition to the report, our project created an artistic depiction of the results of the insight analysis. individual & collective narratives have been interwoven with findings emerging from the review of the literature. this serves a dual purpose:
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promotes social participation of youth with mental health issues & reducing stigma related to mental illness
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provides engaging, accessible & impactful information for consumption & engagement by the general public.
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the commission ran from june 2020 to october, 2020.
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now, we are excited to share our findings with you!
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art matters for mental health!
this engagement would not have been possible without wellcome trust, our lived experience experts, udaan & our team.
the team was led by -
kamala easwaran - a mental health professional with over a decade of experience in developing & scaling mental health interventions & working with vulnerable populations.
yog japee - a clore fellow (2012), the team’s drama and arts professional. yog is a seasoned arts practitioner with over 18 years of experience in creating bespoke applied arts interventions for development.
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tasneem raja - co-lead from our partner organization, Udaan. tasneem is a clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience in operationalizing mental health programs.
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we will be updating this space with more explorations, expressions, findings & recommendations from this study.
to know more, get in touch!
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