Museums in Mind: Exploring the role of museums for people with mental health problems and working towards best practice

Research into the contemporary concerns of mental health organisations and individuals with mental health problems reveals both a preoccupation with challenging invisibility and stigma alongside looking at new ways and spaces to help and empower individuals. This thesis explores how museums represent and engage with people with mental health problems. The research is presented within the context of the contemporary agenda for museums in England and the landscape of mental health care and cultural priorities for individuals today.

Today’s museums, the Museums Association declares, can “change lives” (Museums Association, 2023, n.p.). Through collection, representation and engagement, they can challenge exclusion, empower individual identity and enhance wellbeing. This research explores the collection of the tangible and intangible heritage of mental health, interpretation of its narrative, and how museums engage with individuals with mental health conditions, including exploring the innovative practice of co-production. The research establishes a broad understanding of historic and current practice in England, then focusses on findings from case study work with four organisations to explore participant perspectives before considering future practice.

Museum practice is explored within the framework of the philosophies of both Freire (1972) and Bourdieu (1986). This provides a structure to interrogate the transformative agency of the museum in relation to its practice of representing and engaging with individuals with mental health conditions.

The study adopts a variety of methods to capture qualitative data. This includes survey, focus group and interview data. Fundamental to this study has been the inclusion of the voice of those with lived experience. The methodology in exploring museum engagement therefore borrows elements from action research and emancipatory methodology. Working alongside participants, I have explored the nature of museum visiting and engagement through a variety of museological activities, and the outcomes of these initiatives with individuals. The study has included a complex consideration of ethics, and a considerable degree of personal investment, both from my perspective as researcher but also as someone with my own experience of mental health problems. The methodological and research implications of these issues is explored both in considering approaches to this research and in its conclusion.

Findings suggest that whereas museums are encouraged to aspire towards a role of social agency, they remain remote for many individuals who are excluded both in terms of engagement and in the invisibility of their own narrative. Museums have had a limited role in collecting the largely ignored and silenced heritage of the asylum and the stories of mental health and its treatment. Where representation exists, there is a failure to challenge the dominant discourse and to encourage the voice of lived experience. Representation and engagement practice affirms individuals within the role of patienthood rather than personhood. The study of co-production practice with which the research concludes, however, reveals a more fundamental empowerment, challenging the othering and passivity of marginalised communities. It is proposed that further research into the practice of co-production would provide the opportunity to extend understanding of the beneficial outcomes and help inform future development of this practice.