Embroidered Awareness was in response to facilitating art programming in a behavioral health unit hospital setting. The stories of the various individuals really affected me during my time as an art class facilitator. The repeated phrases, words of wisdoms, advice and stories were heartfelt and humbling. Once I got to know these participants their stories began to show through. The embroidered imagery is representative of the labeled disease or disorder, but once the mask is put on the stories, and words embroidered expose their stories. This installation was to raise awareness in a college setting to inform students and gain their responses. It was a social experiment to see who interacted, how they interacted and what was their response.  The installation was to recreate in a sense a structured, dependent and controlled environment. The students were invited to line up, utilize proper safety precautions( hand sanitizer, gloves, individual masks) before interacting with the hung masks. The students couldn't read their own stories, they had to rely on someone else in that environment to help them. It is a tight, close environment and people often learn of what your disorder is in that environment. Then after reading such phrases, students were invited to reflect by drawing on their own mask how they felt about illnesses, their own health journey or an overall reflection. The purpose was to evoke meaningful conversations about behavioral health.

 

**This was voluntary of all participants. No names or any personal information of patient participants were disclosed.**