2016, Kingston School of Art

Nominated for RSA Student Design Awards 2016

Collaboration with Dr Benjamin Crawford

 

The demise of face-to-face social interaction and community approaches to living in the wake of online social networks, mistrust of strangers and ideological individualism, is having an negative impact on our mental health by eroding the social instincts which make us human. 

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Community therapy, a service design collaboration between doctor and designer, reinvigorates ‘community’ as a means to improve mental health. It aims to improve mental well-being, physical health, resilience and ease the financial and time burden on the NHS by empowering people to provide their own care and, where possible, to avoid mental ill health in the first place. 

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Our user research saw that people wanted care without stigma and recognised that anyone can suffer from a mental health problem and anyone can also benefit from improving their mental health. Referencing evidence for the benefits of self-administered and holistic care in mental health, this framework builds mental health services into a community setting combining traditional psychiatric therapies with occupational therapies and improved physical well-being.

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This project was a response to a RSA Student Design brief asking for a design to improve health and was judged by a panel from Phillips, Uscreates, Healthy London Partnership, Guy’s and St Thomas Charity, Kinneir Dufort Design and the RSA,

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