Darryl Cunningham's SHOUT talk hailed a success

Thank you to everyone who came along to our latest SHOUT event with cartoonist Darryl Cunningham. It was a real success and gave plenty to think about. 

This was a new style of talk for SHOUT, the intention being to give people a different view of mental health and explore the importance of encouraging patients, clients or service users to utilise their own skills and abilities to help engender a sense of achievement and, therefore, aid recovery. Ultimately, people experiencing mental health problems are the experts, they know themselves, their condition and their inner resources better than any health professional. We have so much to learn from their experiences and shared stories, enabling us to come alongside during difficult times more effectively and provide support.

Here are a few of the (paraphrased) comments we received from those who came:

“It was uplifting to see such a positive result from a difficult situation”

“The talk was really good – very interesting story of mental health and the use of art to tell that story. I really enjoyed the humorous but realistic portrayal of illness through the cartoon strips”

“Moving images which were well discussed and explained – a picture speaks a thousand words”

“Showed how the use of creative media may be powerful in recovery”

“Darryl highlighted that we all do things differently, experience mental health differently, and this must be reflected in our practice”

A visiting researcher from the Art and Design Research Centre said “As a person doing illustrations, it showed me that there may be different areas where you can use your skills”

“I learnt that cows have four stomachs!” 

“The creativity and style of portraying information can be used in occupational therapy as a means of engaging participation”

“Darryl showed me how to promote and key into clients’ skills, whilst thinking outside the box and not being afraid to do so in my future practice”

“As practitioners we must look closely at the people we help and encourage them to use the abilities they already have to help themselves”