Result
A diverse group of trusted activists, artists and community workers were assembled to see how creative approaches could support positive, mental health of children and families – and act as less traumatising research tools when working with children’s and families telling their stories. Therefore, helping to rethink the evidence base around community mental health.
We were included in the Programme’s Community of Practice (CoP), sharing insights from our work across participatory methodologies and in helping to reframe narratives around health, poverty and education led by members of the community.
We used our experience as participatory designers to bring the varied, creative outputs from the group into a coherent whole – seeing shared themes and translating this into the primary output, a toolkit of methods to be used and owned by those communities.
“It's Like This were a valued member of Impact on Urban Health's Children's Mental Health Programme, attempting to transform traditional dynamics, foster connection and endeavour to put collaboration before competition even when resource and capacity is low. They are excellent at looking for opportunities to problem solve, and identify other Community members' strengths. Their skills as participatory designers acted as a glue and enabled the CoP's to bring individual practice into a coherent whole and final output.”