Introduction to MAP at Home

This video provides an overview of the MAP at Home project delivered by Professor Ananda Breed during a webinar entitled 'Arts-based Approaches for Mental Health Provision in Rwanda' on 29 November 2021. Our project ‘MAP at Home: Online Psychosocial Support through the Arts in Rwanda’ is an international, multi-disciplinary project funded by the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) / Newton Fund. It seeks to provide insights on the potential for mental health provision through digital platforms and arts-based methods informed by local mental health and psychosocial practices. Over the past year, we have collaborated with UK and Rwandan universities, civil society organisations, psychosocial workers, youth trainers, artists, and marginalised groups in five districts to develop an arts-based digital approach to wellbeing that promotes, protects, and restores mental health at the community level. At the same time, we sought to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and psychosocial services in rural areas. Our 18-month project received numerous requests from health centres, hospitals, and civil society organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were in need of accessible and inclusive community-based mental health services. Rwanda is currently working towards the expansion of mental health and psychosocial services through the decentralisation of existing structures in schools and district level health centres and hospitals. MAP at Home is working closely with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, the National Rehabilitation Services, and the Rwanda Education Board to support this development. The project has designed a locally embedded therapeutic model through the co-production of a psychosocial module, workshops and trainings, and an online curriculum with a diverse group of stakeholders (academics, psychosocial workers, educators, artists, young people, and mental health service users/providers). The co-production process enabled service users and service providers to participate in the planning and implementation stages of the project. Additionally, MAP at Home offered training for service providers who were unfamiliar with the use of arts-based methods for mental health and wellbeing and delivered online and face-to-face group sessions within their respective communities. Finally, to further sustainability and to expand support networks between the rural and urban regions in each district, MAP at Home linked mental health service users with mental health service providers at health centres and district hospitals. For further information, please visit our website: map.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk