HOSPITAL ROOMS
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Mission Statement
Hospital Rooms is a charity founded in 2016 that brings extraordinary art and creative activity to people in NHS mental health hospitals.
About This Cause
Artist Tim A Shaw and curator Niamh White founded Hospital Rooms after a close friend was sectioned and admitted to a mental health hospital. They were struck by how unsuitable the physical environment was for helping people to get better, and shocked by how bleak and clinical it was. Tim and Niamh discovered how limited access to visual arts is for people in mental health hospitals,and were determined to do something about it. We are the only organisation that brings together world class artists with some of our most isolated and vulnerable members of society to radically transform challenging clinical environments and make them imaginative, thoughtful and rejuvenative. We do this because: - People using these services face a severe inequality of opportunity to engage with or be inspired by the arts - The physical environments in locked mental health units are inadequate (CQC) and are not conducive to recovery (NHS 5 Year Forward View) The units that we work in provide care to people who have severe and on-going mental illnesses. They are intensively managed environments where various clinical processes are in place to keep people safe and aid their recovery. This means there can be restrictions on people’s ability to leave the unit to access arts and culture, and that the environments can be very sterile and clinical. We commission renowned international artists like Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Aimee Mullins to work with patients and staff to radically transform clinical settings into places of inspiration and hope. We believe that by putting artwork that might ordinarily be found in the National Portrait Gallery or in the Tate Gallery, in spaces that provide care to some of our most vulnerable and isolated members of the community, we can instil people with dignity, value and wellbeing. “The new design is changing the way we all live our lives on the ward. The art has given us all a new way to start conversations with each other and things already seem so much better.” Service user, Phoenix Unit, Springfield Hospital “The best thing about the project was the collaborative creative work between artists and young people and the generosity and humility of visiting artists.” Staff member, Maudsley Hospital “Just being in that space - that raw, vulnerable space where service users are - being in that space alone, was enough to make you feel like we can do something about this, and we must do something about this. We know the potency of art in any context, but one can't deny its transforming quality. Art is often meant to agitate, but in this context it was palliative.” Aimee Mullins, Artist, Eileen Skellern 1, Maudsley Hospital Our work is rooted in the evidence that the arts and creativity can bring about positive change for the most isolated communities. It can have a profound effect on individuals’ wellbeing, dignify suffering and strengthen relationships. “I came on the ward the other day, went into the ‘make-believe paradise’, and I sat there and I could have sworn I was outside. I know I wasn’t, but it really had that effect.” Staff member, Eileen Skellern 1, Maudsley Hospital We use art to encourage conversation, and we listen. The art works we install are sensitively conceived to avoid inappropriate or unwelcome associations. Patients and staff are at the heart of this transformation. In discussions and hands-on workshops, they co-produce with the artists and have opportunities to engage in creative activity. Their voices are heard, which positively changes the way they feel about themselves and others. “A lot of people think these service users are the most difficult to reach, but that’s not true. The people we work with are really open to exciting ideas.” Tim A Shaw, Co-founder, Hospital Rooms