Mitigating Mental Health Through The Arts

Abstract

Repeated suicide cases at the University of Malawi triggered the motivation for “Suicide
Awareness and Prevention Week” which took place during the “Mental Health Month” from
the 8th to 14th May 2023. It involved various types of performing and fine arts, a field to glean
lessons from to help in mental health mitigation. Suicide, an aftermath of mental health
disorders and one of the causes of death globally across ages and people of diverse
economic status is on the increase globally. It is ranked the 10th leading cause of death for
all ages in the United States. This paper’s problem statement is a response to a call
expressing the need for a wide-ranging interdisciplinary response with knowledge of
prevention and universal interventions on mental health. The rationale is that everyone
engages with performing arts daily, which is proven to assist in various mental health issues;
it is imperative to explore on maximization of arts to intervene due to the increase in mental
health cases. The study hypothesizes that arts can mitigate mental health. The research
question states: How can arts be maximized in reducing mental health cases?
This paper analyzes the “Suicide Awareness and Prevention Week” project with Heron’s Six
Categories of Intervention highlighting practices worth emulating in managing mental
health. This research implies motivating more practitioners to maximize the use of the power
of arts in mental health. Some of the key results include reduced mental cases, increased
awareness and information on where to get help, increased care for one another and
increased motivation to participate in mitigation. The main finding is that arts are powerful
tools in mental health mitigation.