Using Art and Visual Design to Support De-escalation

Synopsis

The project included several workshops, design consultations and production meetings involving service-users, experts-by-experience, students, academics, clinical leads and occupational therapists. Tracy Colpitts, Clinical Project Manager (EoD project team, LPFT) commented that ‘Since the opening of our new wards in June 2023, we have reported an increase of patient use within the courtyards and seating is placed appropriately near the art display to encourage patients to view the intricacies of detail within the design. Staff have positively reported that patients gravitate to this area and often spend suitable amounts of time focussing on the images, away from the main ward areas which can often be busy and over stimulating. Staff also use the artwork to initiate conversation and discussions with patients and aide de-escalation and grounding techniques. The collaboration with our university colleagues has opened doors for discussions around mental health, particularly the connection with poor mental health that resonates within the university and associated pressures students face within their academic life. By holding engagement workshops and enabling the UoL students to meet with our inpatients, it has proven to be such a positive and wholesome experience to support the reduction of stigma associated with mental health and to raise the awareness of the vulnerabilities that all individuals can, and often do face, regarding mental health distress within all walks and ages of life. Therefore, the workshops supporting our scheme have proven to be so much more than the artwork itself. A truly inspiring example of collaboration between healthcare settings and our wider community educational services, empowering individuals to be creative, share goals and achievements and work together to create artistic masterpieces for all to enjoy’.