This campaign has now closed

We are createing a legacy which celebrates mental health with humour and creativity, giving a voice to our diverse experiences. Put your walking boots on and join CoolTan Arts on a ramble hearing the voices of history from the Maudsley Hospital to the Tate Modern. Uncover the legacy of mental health, doing the Largactyl Shuffle: on the Cooltan Arts walk.

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Categories

  • Animals Animals
  • Arts/Culture/Heritage Arts/​Culture/​Heritage
  • Cancer Cancer
  • Community Support & Development Community Support & Development
  • Education/Training/Employment Education/​Training/​Employment
  • Environment/Conservation Environment/​Conservation
  • Health/Wellbeing Health/​Wellbeing
  • Hospitals/Hospices Hospitals/​Hospices
  • Human Rights/Advocacy Human Rights/​Advocacy
  • Medical Research Medical Research
  • Poverty Alleviation/Relief Poverty Alleviation/​Relief
  • Religious Religious
  • Sports/Recreation Sports/​Recreation
  • Other Other
  • Beneficiaries

    • Children (3-18) Children (3-18)
    • Older People Older People
    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other

    Situation

    We are creating themed walks, which will be rooted in the history of mental health: an architectural walk; a gay history walk; and a women and mental health walk. We expect the project to become a tourist attraction for visitors from outside the capital as well as Londoners. The project will raise awareness and understanding of mental distress, and break down stigma, whilst providing artistic and employment opportunities for people with mental distress. It will therefore improve the psychological health of those involved as well as improving the general social well-being of people with mental distress. The project will help promote social inclusion, facilitate tolerance and participation, reduce anxiety and enable people to have more control within their lives; we believe it can contribute to improved physical and mental well-being, and reduce the risk of some mental health issues. For people experiencing mental distress, mental health promotion on this scale can help improve services and enhance their quality of life, as well as reducing relapse and assisting recovery. Current evaluation of Cooltan’s work highlighted people with mental distress wanting to be apart of the wider community and to do constructive things with their time. This project will empower people with mental distress, as volunteers and—when ready—to move on into employment. We will measure the success of the project by keeping records and reviewing the process with question and answer sessions, personal testimonials and an external evaluation process. This is an exciting new project creating a geo-psychological and geo-physical legacy. The project will encompass all art forms—visual arts, music, drama, story-telling—to self-empower, integrating the diversity of different communities’ experience of mental health into the walk. It will challenge stereotypes, discrimination and inequalities, raise awareness about mental health issues, and reduce the political, social and economic barriers which face people in mental distress. Participants will develop lasting skills and confidence to enable them to be in charge of their lives: involvement in the project will increase participants’ access to education, meaningful employment, and training opportunities. The project will strengthen individuals’ emotional resilience by promoting self-esteem, life and coping skills (for example, communicating, negotiating, and forming relationships) and will enable people from different black and minority ethnic populations to develop a positive cultural identity and thereby build their confidence and sense of worth.

    Solution

    100%
    Categories

  • Animals Animals
  • Arts/Culture/Heritage Arts/​Culture/​Heritage
  • Cancer Cancer
  • Community Support & Development Community Support & Development
  • Education/Training/Employment Education/​Training/​Employment
  • Environment/Conservation Environment/​Conservation
  • Health/Wellbeing Health/​Wellbeing
  • Hospitals/Hospices Hospitals/​Hospices
  • Human Rights/Advocacy Human Rights/​Advocacy
  • Medical Research Medical Research
  • Poverty Alleviation/Relief Poverty Alleviation/​Relief
  • Religious Religious
  • Sports/Recreation Sports/​Recreation
  • Other Other
  • Beneficiaries

    • Children (3-18) Children (3-18)
    • Older People Older People
    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other