KILBURN COMMUNITY PROJECT
Inside Out
Observation
Kilburn is a multicultural place where many families with young children live there. More than 9 primary schools, 4 parks and many afterschool clubs are there. What residents say about Kilburn 'This is a good place to live. Safe and accessible.' 'I feel safe living here, even at night.'
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Observation
Life Pattern Weekday
Weekend
Families walking on Kilburn High Road
Secondary school students
Families at park
Nanny at park
Home-educated family
Grandmothers take care of grand children
Parents pick up their children from primary school
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Observation
We also found many wellbeing programmes for youth there, since mental health of young children is an issue in London, According to AddAction, More than 1 in 3 young people have thoughts of harming themselves, 42% of young people worry about how others perceive them either 'often' or 'all the time', and less than 1 in 2 young people think that teachers and other staff provide the support they need in schools.
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Observation-Research
Although there are many mental health services, some of the services are not accessible.
For example, the waiting time after registering might take 6 weeks to 18 months. So how can we make the 'help' more
accessible
?
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Research
Therapeutic Programme Gardening therapy Gardening improves not only the physical health but also the mental health, because of a sense of purpose and achievement. Also, having the opportunity to connect with others and nature reduces the feeling of isolation or exclusion.
Art therapy A therapeutic tool uses different art media to express and communicate. It is not used for diagnosis but a method to cope with the emotional issues.
Talking therapy Talking gives people the chance to explore their feelings. During talking therapy, therapists will help people talk more about their negative thoughts. It can help you understand why you feel not good and make a positive change.
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Research - Empathise
'How to connect with depressed friends' Ted Talk - Bill Bernat 'Depression doesn't diminish a person's desire to connect with other people, just their ability.' Do's: - Give depressed people a sense of control - Reach them out - Ask them to help you
After doing the research about the therapeutic methods, we want to explore how people feel.
Don'ts: - Don't say 'Just get over it.' - Don't take a negative response personally - Don't put on a sad voice
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Empathise
Experiences of talking therapy 'The therapist makes me
feel she is objective and has no assumptions about
'She makes me feel it is ok to be wrong.'
me. So I can talk a lot.'
'The first question (what
'At first, I had no idea what
feel more frustrated,
"what brings you here?"
is you problem) made me because that's why I was there. But after talking,
I felt better, even if my problem was still there.'
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to say. Then she asked, I started talking and felt
better. The room made me
feel safe to talk. But before
going there, I hesitated for a long time.'
Empathise
Our Survey
'How do you deal with your stress'
60% of the people tend to
Have a face-to-face talk with familiar people
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Empathise
What if
we amplify the good elements of talking therapy?
Comfortable conversation : safe to talk -
Atmosphere Allowed to talk about the negative emotions
Serious mental problem
Intervention
of depressing emotions 10
From
Daily Conversation
Experiment
The First Experiment A comfortable atmosphere for children to talk about daily negative feelings -
Worry
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Experiment
Toolkits
for the First Experiment
Relaxing Place Map For finding the place people go for relaxing.
Card Game Making a conversation about daily worry.
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Experiment
How to play Step1: Step2: Step3:
Teller , Listener Teller tells one worry in the daily life. Listener picks 4 cards to give tips to the Teller. If Listener doesn't have any ideas about the worry, he/she can pick one card from the 'Chance Box'.
28 Cards with Abstract Shape are for the triggers for generating ideas or making stories.
Chance Box provides the alternative tips for Listener.
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Experiment
Experiment at Queen's Park
After collecting the relaxing place that most of the people choose Queen's park, we tried the game there. Though our main target for this stage is children and parents, we also tried this game with a talking therapist and adults.
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Children The young girl said 'I love this game!' (Thumbs up) She played three times and enjoyed being the Listener and using the cards to give tips.
Experiment
A Father and his son The father said 'This game is good for him to practising talking, listening and imagining.' The son, at the second round, picked a card from the Chance Box. The card is 'Share one of the secrets to him/her!' Talking Therapist 'The cards are good for Listener. Because picking cards give them time to think about what to say.'
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Experiment
Feedback for the Game - Feel good to give tips - Talk about the topic we are seldom asked - It's good to have time to talk and listen to the worry from the people we care - Cards allow people to think - The cards are too abstract for children - Another proper place/context for processing the conversation - Different expression ways for children
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Ideation
Ideas from the feedback
Some ideas about making conversation came up, such as a bulletin collecting people's worries and ideas about those worries in the public space, 3D tools for children to storytelling, cubes for drawing and understanding, priority drawing activity etc.
The development of the card game We added more realistic images related to daily life and made a manual board.
Drawing activity When it comes to expressing emotions, one talking therapist indicated that for young children, drawing is easier than talking. Thus, we developed some drawing activity for conversation.
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Ideation
The Worry Monster Drawing For another way to express the emotions, we developed another drawing activity. The concept is to visualize the worry emotions. Before drawing the worry monster, people allow thinking about one worry. During drawing, the worry becomes less serious and more understandable, which is able for people to talk about it more easily. Further, the anticipation of the action is to see if it has the possibility to teach children not to be afraid of their worry.
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Research
Context Finding In the weekdays, many parents spend time with their children after picking up them from school. They play games, read books and talk with each other. Also, before sleep is the time they talk with each other, sharing the school life and their plan. The preferred places to spend a family time are parks, playgrounds and home.
During doing the interview with those family, an un ex pe cte d thing comes out which is primary-school aged children seems have less serious mental problems as we expected, while the parents have more stress. 19
Research
Unexpected Voice from Parents when exploring the children's worry
'This age shouldn't be restricted by the time and the subjects at school. This age is for them to explore and enjoy their interests.' - a mother having 2 home-educated children
'My worry is not having enough time with my child.' - a working mother having 2-year-old son
'I do my best to spend more time with them, but life is busy.' - a working mother picking up her daughter.
'When do we spend time together? No, we haven't spent time together for a long time. But everyday before sleep I go to their bedroom and talk with them.' - a working mother picking up her four daughters.
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Experiment
The Second Experiment The Second Version of the Card Game & Drawing Add natural images and objects into the cards
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Experiment
The Second Version Card Game We invited the designers and psychologists of Problem Solving Booth to try our second version card game. While observing them playing, we found they have the process of understanding Teller's worry. Also, the Listener asked if the Teller can use the card to visualise the emotion. After the teller described the worry, the Listener asked the follow-up questions to understand more about it.
' Understanding Process ' 22
Experiment
Development of The Card Game - Make it simple During some of the experiments, we got some feedback and improved the game. We made the cards as a more efficient trigger for Teller and Listener, both of them can use the cards. Also, we want to make the card game simpler, providing more freedom in this game allowing people have the flexibility in the game. Thus, the manual is developed as the same size as the cards. The whole set is 6cm x 8cm, which is really easy to carry.
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Experiment
The Worry Monster Drawing We invited children and adults to draw their worry monster want to see what they are worried about. It is a useful tool for starting a conversation about worry because of the relaxing atmosphere. But how can it use as a tool to lead a deeper conversation?
Monster Journey In order to lead a deep conversation after drawing, we created a story for the monster. We used 'overcoming the monster' story plot to develop the journey. So we created a Happy monster to overcome the worry monster.
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Cases
Two Games at Home
Case 1 - a Korean Family living in London for about nine months 'One younger daughter (aged 4) doesn't know how to play. She does not really understand the steps in the manual. However, her older sister (aged 7) enjoyed using the cards to make stories even if she has no serious worry.' Case 2 - a Chinese Family living in London for seven years
'For my 8-year-old son, he is outgoing and does not worry. While my 4-year-old daughter still stays and try. She enjoys drawing the worry monster and happy monster. But for a parent, the manual is too simple for me, so I don't know how to guide and continue the game.'
Case2. The daughter's worry is at night sleeping in the dark. So her mother asked how she can help. The daughter said maybe she lit more lights in the living room.
A development from the parent's feedback A cube offers the keywords which related to the children, such as what is your dream, what makes you happy an so on.
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Tool
How the Tools help 'Finding Worry' Card Game
For a more in-depth emotional issue, Teller and Listener use the cards and a cube to talk. Cards: Abstract cards, natural cards, and object transparent films A cube: With six keywords on it to talk
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The adults who played the card game said that it is a good idea to use the visuals to connect with the invisible emotions, while children use the cards as different ways, describing the emotions or making their own stories. Some people also said the cards allow people to think of the negative emotions we forget we have taken them unconsciously. As the experiment, conversation card game as a prevention tool of the repressed emotions provides an easy and listening atmosphere for adults, couple or people who want to have a deeper conversation about negative emotions.
Tool
'How to open the door' Drawing Book
Young children will be introduced the negative emotions and the positive emotions. During reading and drawing, they will be taught how to deal with the negative emotions. Also, parents can see what their children draw and have a conversation with them.
Drawing activity is a relaxing way to think of the negative feelings, which also allows us to ask people we first met and know one of their worries. Visualising the worry is easier for other people around them to understand and pay attention to it before it becomes more serious. In London, some of the primary schools concern about the mental health problem, so they offer many services to teach and guide them how to react with some sepecific situations, such as being bullied or feeling angry. With this kind of learning, some parents indicated that their children know better about how to address their emotions.
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Opportunity
The Opportunity 'I want to try this game with my daughter in the future.' 'After trying the card game, I know how I can deal with the complicated situations when I feel stressed.' People having worries enjoy the card game and want to try it again and drawing monster activity is a way for children to express their emotions and parents to start a conversation. Thus, Queen's Park with a cafe shop inside could be a suitable place for talking. As people in touch with the great outdoors are easier to open their mind. The elements of the park, environment, facilities and scale, allow people to relax and talk.
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Opportunity
Creating a new rental service in Queen's Park, people can rent the games and play everywhere at the park, such as playing the card game in the cafe shop or when picnic time, or drawing the book in the cafe shop or outdoors etc. What we expect is these games as a little action in daily life can protect people from the accumulated negative feelings.
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ŠPingnamin Manping Chen, Minjeong Kang, Nayoung Kim