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Exeter mental health project to receive share of £1/2 million

01/05/2008

"It is becoming increasingly clear that the solutions to some of the challenges we face in areas like mental health will not be found in the conventional places"

An innovative idea from an occupational therapist in Exeter has been awarded a share of £1/2m from The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The project, one of eleven across the UK, was chosen because of the impact it could have on the mental health service.

The brainchild of Helen Mason, the project will see her working with local arts and media centre, Exeter Phoenix, to use animation to support children and families with mental health issues. The idea is to work with vulnerable groups and get them to use animation themselves to explore their feelings.

Helen will receive seed funding of £10K and support from a business mentor to create a business plan for running the project on a larger scale, which would involve the development of a tool kit and website.

From Helen’s use of animation in therapy to a simple board game, which gives in-patients a say in the way their environment is designed, the eleven successful Innovations in Mental Health projects were chosen from over 500 applications from frontline workers, service users and their carers, all wishing to make a difference in their area.

With the right backing and guidance, each of the local initiatives will be supported to the point at which they can be adapted or rolled out on a national level. Each project will receive ongoing support from NESTA and its partners in the Innovations in Mental Health scheme, the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Media, Mind, Rethink and The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

Commenting on her success, Helen Mason said:

“I am passionate about the therapeutic potential for the use of animation with vulnerable children and their families. What appears to make animation unique from other activities I have used within my work is its power to motivate. Animation also crosses generational gaps and enables safe exploration of emotions, self expression and an opportunity to further develop self worth.”

Commenting on the projects selected, NESTA CEO, Jonathan Kestenbaum said:

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the solutions to some of the challenges we face in areas like mental health will not be found in the conventional places and cannot be left to government and the NHS. This project shows there are excellent ideas out there on the front line. With the right support, local initiatives like this have the potential to have a big impact across the UK”.

Innovations in Mental Health is part of NESTA’s Challenge programme – a portfolio of work designed to understand and accelerate social innovation. Through practical experiments, Challenge tests hypotheses about how a more enabling environment can be created and sets out to make that happen.

NESTA spokespeople are available for comment and interview. To arrange to speak to someone from NESTA please contact Catherine Anderson on 02074382609 or catherine.anderson@nesta.org.uk.

Notes to editors:

NESTA

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - a unique and independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative. It invests in early-stage companies, informs and shapes policy, and delivers practical programmes that inspire others to solve the big challenges of the future.

The Mental Health Foundation is a leading UK charity that provides information and policy recommendations, carries out research, campaigns and works to improve services for anyone affected by mental health problems, whatever their age and wherever they live. For more information please contact Laura Gibson on 020 7803 1130 or Fran Gorman on 020 7803 1128.