Arts / mural
New mural celebrates importance of mental health support
A local mental health charity has created a huge mural celebrating the importance of peer support in the Bristol community.
Changes Bristol have collaborated with the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) to create the mural, which is the latest addition to PRSC’s mural wall.
The new mural depicts a phoenix emerging from a fire, surrounded by gender neutral figures with speech bubbles which have been left blank so that people can write in their own positive and supportive messages around mental health.
is needed now More than ever
Changes Bristol has been providing support to those in mental distress with peer support groups in greater Bristol since 2003.
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The charity aims to allow people to make connections, network and create a community with others who have lived experience of mental ill-health with the idea that the regular use of peer support services improves confidence, resilience and self esteem for those suffering from mental health issues.
Elysia, fundraising and communications officer for Changes Bristol, said: “Creating art with the community has huge benefits for a person’s mental health. Many people found the experience to be incredibly mindful and an important creative outlet.
“It was particularly empowering designing the mural from scratch together and combining everyone’s wonderful ideas.
She added: “It’s really important that we don’t stigmatise mental health and we can have honest and vulnerable conversations with our loved ones about it.
“Oftentimes, starting the dialogue about mental health can be challenging, so we’ve included an interactive element to the mural.
“We’ve added speech bubbles to encourage people to write their own thoughts and feelings surrounding mental health, and start this important conversation.”
The mural will be on display for one month for visitors to visit and engage with.
All photos: J Steadman Bailey
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