Conference Agenda

Starting with an overview of potential benefits (and limitations) of using arts-based and visual methods, the presenter will share reflections and examples from carrying out several applied and activist interdisciplinary research projects using a range of arts-based and visual methodologies interdisciplinary projects about mental health/illness and suicidal behaviour in LMIC such as Indonesia, India, Ghana, Australia and the Philippines, and among people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. In particular, she will present about her recent UK ESRC/GCRF-funded project “Together for Mental Health: Using collaborative visual research methods to understand experiences of mental illness, coercion and restraint in Ghana and Indonesia”, which used ethnographic film and visual participatory methods to explore collaboration between mental health workers and faith-based and traditional healers to prevent the use of coercion and provide care for persons affected by mental illness. The speaker will also provide examples from a variety of projects where the participants/storytellers were directly involved in creating and making (i.e. filming, editing, distributing) their stories using a range of techniques (from collaborative filming to digital storytelling to participatory video). She will conclude by sharing her reflections on using creative forms of engagement to ignite social and system changes.