ORCID

Abstract

Research suggests that some service users may have harmful experiences of mental health services. Truth and reconciliations processes have addressed systemic harm in other contexts. However, these are complex and may have positive and negative impacts. Eight interviews were conducted with seven members of a community arts group which uses a truth and reconciliations approach. Members create art to express harmful experiences of the mental health system and display it at exhibitions where mental health professionals are invited to engage with it. The researcher used a constructivist grounded theory informed approach to understand how artists experienced a truth and reconciliations process. Findings suggest that the format of the group may have supported traumatic experiences to be expressed and contained. The data suggested that the capacity for the group and artwork to enable an emotionally powerful experience may have been a catalyst for healing. Participants proposed that exhibitions fostered more equal relations between artists and professionals and may have provided a space for the witnessing of stories of experiences of harm within mental health services. The results indicate that participants’ experiences of the group may have been supportive of mental health recovery from a social and lifestyle perspective. The author emphasises the importance of maintaining an environment where participants feel safe to express themselves in truth and reconciliations processes in a mental health context.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Ben Green, Lealah Hewitt-Johns, Pete Keohane, Tam Martin-Fowles

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2025

Embargo Period

2026-09-04

Deposit Date

September 2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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