Consumer Art Therapy Online Workshops Wednesday 1st and Friday 3rd July
VMIAC is taking expressions of interest for an art therapy workshop as part of its Royal Commission work. In the next couple of weeks, we will be holding two art therapy sessions online for consumers of Victoria’s mental health services.
Consumers will work in a small group with a trained art therapist and peer support worker to produce artworks that respond to our report’s themes and subject “our future mental health system”. The art therapist will guide you to express your thoughts and feelings through drawing, painting or clay.
All works produced in the art therapy session will appear in VMIAC’s Royal Commission consumer art exhibition TBC 2020. Some works will be selected for publication in our final report to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
Register your interest via email to rcsupport@vmiac.org.au with the subject line “Consumer art project“. You must have a lived experience of mental health challenges or emotional distress to attend a session. You will be remunerated for your time.
Places are limited, so get in quick!
Individual Creative Submissions
We are now inviting creative responses to the recommendations. This is your chance to show us how the mental health system looks and feels when it is supporting you best. Your creative response can take the form of creative writing (short story, poetry, article or essay) visual art (illustration, painting, photography or sculpture) or a song or jingle! You can submit your creative work/s via email or post, or through our website. Your work/s can respond to one recommendation from the interim report, or multiple.
In June, VMIAC is submitting a written report to the Royal Commission with feedback from consumers on the interim report’s recommendations. We believe that including some creative responses in our report will more accurately represent the needs of consumers in Victoria. This is your chance to show us how the mental health system looks and feels when it is supporting you best.
What do I submit?
VMIAC is seeking creative responses to Recommendations 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System interim report.
Your submission/s will reflect a future mental health system that is “responsive, accessible and equitable” (interim report, p. 14) using the creative medium/s of your choice. How do you feel and how does the mental health system look when it is supporting you best?
You can use the recommendations as a guide and interpret them however you want. We are especially interested to know what you think can be added to the recommendations.
More information about the recommendations can be found here.
To read the interim report summary, click here.
How to Submit?
- Send your work(s) through our online form here.
- Email your work(s) via attachment or link to rcsupport@vmiac.org.au with the subject line “Creative Submission”.
- Post your work(s) to VMIAC’S offices at PO Box 59, Somerton VIC 3062
Please note: Only some works will be selected for publication in our final report. You will be notified via your supplied contact if your work is selected.
If you have any questions about your submission or require more information, please contact us at (03) 9390 3900 or rcsupport@vmiac.org.au.
If you require a canvas for your artwork, please phone VMIAC reception on (03) 9390 3900 and we can provide one for you.