See Listen Talk: Slow Looking Approaches for Vulnerable Audiences

The Art Engager

Today I’m talking to Cecilie Monrad, Art Health Manager at Frederiksberg Museums in Copenhagen. We’re talking about See Listen Talk, a unique slow looking programme that helps young psychiatric service users in their recovery.

See Listen Talk is a 15-week long programme with weekly meetings taking place outside of the museum's visiting hours. Participants were young psychiatric users aged 18 to 29. Some were still hospitalised during the course but were able to attend the museum sessions. The project had a co-therapist attached, who was both the participants' contact person and motivator.

Listen to today's episode to hear:

• insights into the programme's framework and philosophy, discussing why slow looking was chosen as an approach and how it works in practice.
• what a typical session might involve and the methods and approaches that are used.
• how the programme creates connections within the group and how they create a ‘safe space and brave space’ for the participants through a broad trauma-sensitive framework.
• about the feedback the project has received so far and the positive impacts that the programme has had on the participants both inside and outside of the museum.
• the potential application and expansion of See, Listen, Talk, and the recent recognition of Cecilie's work in the intersection of health and culture, including a recent visit to the Parliament for an open hearing.

This research by Kasper Levin at Roskilde University is ongoing and results are anticipated in March 2024.

Links:

https://frederiksbergmuseerne.dk/en/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilie-monrad-b43729269/

https://journals.uio.no/museolog/article/view/6662 - in Danish [The museum as a catalyst for loneliness prevention in the elderly]

Upcoming article (in Danish) in https://www.magasinetmuseum.dk/ ”Museer som trivselsrum: Slow Looking og Visible Thinking / ”Museums as spaces for wellbeing: Slow Looking and Visible Thinking

Episode 24 Using art and objects to learn wellbeing skills and improve mental health with Louise Thompson

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