Going through mental health services in England can be a disillusioning and traumatic process; with rife accounts of being passed around different departments in the NHS and continually facing long-wait lists for services.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen a worsening of pre-existing mental health conditions, as well as many people experiencing difficulties for the first time, with Mind reporting “more than half of adults (60 per cent) and over two-thirds of young people (68 per cent) have said their mental health got worse during lockdown.”

Mental health services need a close examination as to their efficacy, and while interventions from individuals and communities should not have to stand in for properly funded government services, they can indicate alternative methods for supporting mental health.

Creative practitioners such as Cynthia Voza Lusilu, Becky Warnock and Abbas Zahedi, are among those using art and design to re-think approaches to mental health by prioritising different visual and creative entry points into how we look after ourselves and each other. Jamilla Prowse for It's Nice That

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