Inside-Outsider exhibition

"Any one of us may experience difficulties with our mental and/or emotional health, and art psychotherapists are no different. As art psychotherapists, we cultivate authentic awareness of our whole selves to work with the whole self of the client. This exhibition is a step towards dissolving the shame and stigma which may arise in relation to dual lived experience, reducing the pressure to split off and hide parts of ourselves so that we may live more authentic lives and become more fully present in our work."

"It's important to change the code of silence… because we were missing from learning about the experience of people who have seen both sides of it."

"It is inspiring to see people working together to break down the stigma associated with trauma and mental health difficulties. Funded by the Scottish Government, the NES National Trauma Training Programme (NTTP) is underpinned by the principle that trauma is everybody's business: staff in mental health settings are human beings like everybody else and are not immune to the indiscriminate impact of trauma.

It is key that leaders in mental health settings realise how common trauma is across the population including the people in their workforce, who may also be at a greater risk of exposure to traumatic events in the course of their work. Trauma can lead to a wide range of mental health difficulties that may affect us each in different ways throughout our lives and careers, and so our own well-being must be protected in order to do our jobs well and to support one another in the workplace. Stigma around mental health can silence our ability to reach out for what we need and connect to the social supports that are key to our recovery.

Aligned with the Scottish Government's Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the NTTP shares resources that help networks of leaders to create platforms where they can truly hear the voices of people with lived experience of trauma and of working in mental health settings, to shape and redesign systems and services that can best meet their needs. Projects such as Inside-Outsider empower and celebrate the resilience of human beings working in mental health settings to support others."

"The barriers between healthcare professionals and those who have healthcare conditions are gradually being dismantled and that can only be a good thing."

"We are all humans bringing ourselves into the work."

"Integrate those lived experiences into the way we self reflect and work with our clients to really ethically inform the way we work, and this huge gap in the conversation, the trainings, the discourse and the literature."

"See Me welcomes The Inside-Outsider Exhibition running as part of the SMHAF Festival 2023. This exhibition seeks to tackle the stigma experienced by mental health service providers who experience their own mental health challenges and it offers a safe space for people to use creative approaches to share their experience, with the option of anonymity and a very open approach to how people choose to express themselves.

The misconception that mental health challenges do not affect mental health service providers isolates people having those experiences and it further stigmatises those experiences for everyone. Further to this, building a community of service users that includes mental health professionals presents a powerful way to critically reflect on the lived experience of accessing services and creates a space for those with both power within the mental health system and experience of using it to support systemic change."

"Lived experience is an equally valued form of knowledge, as other forms of evidence."

"If we expect those using mental health services to receive person centred care then it is equally important that those who are providing care are treated with the same values."