Healing Through Photography

Description

A keynote presentation on the therapeutic benefits of photography with long term service users of mental health services in Northern Ireland.

Pamela Whitaker is on the research team for CHOICE (Challenging Health Outcomes/Integrating Care Environments), which will establish a community partnership to co-produce innovative arts-based approaches to tackling social exclusion and reducing the health inequalities experienced by people living with mental health challenges. She will be speaking about CHOICE and her collaboration with Inspire Wellbeing, experts with lived experience, a community advisory board and associate researchers from the disciplines of photography, architecture, psychology, history, and the social sciences.
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The PhotoVoice research project at Belfast Exposed is a feature of CHOICE (Challenging Health Outcomes - Integrating Care Environments) which is a collaborative research project with people who are long term service users of mental health services co-produced with a community coalition of mental health advocates. The Photo Voice series has been initiated at Belfast Exposed with lived experience experts who are documenting their life experiences through photography and spoken narratives. Photo Voice is a form of visual storytelling and it has been utilised for health promotion and social empowerment. The overall aim of the research is to co-produce innovative arts-based approaches to tackle social exclusion and the reduction of health inequities.

Period	4 Apr 2023
Held at	Belfast Exposed Gallery
Degree of Recognition	National