KEEP ON KEEPING ON: Follow-On to Building Resilience by developing arts-based resources to reduce young people's depression and anxiety (MR/S03580X/1)

尽管制定了《综合精神卫生行动计划》（2013年），但世卫组织在2020年报告称，“在2019冠状病毒病大流行突显出对精神卫生支持的需求日益增长之际，全球未能向人们提供所需的精神卫生服务”（世卫组织2020年）。在高收入和低收入国家，精神卫生资源的分配存在严重不平等；由于缺乏财政和人力资源，拉丁美洲的年轻人很少接受抑郁症和/或焦虑症的正式治疗（Rathod et al. 2017）。然而，尽管有累积和持续的逆境，以及缺乏正规的精神卫生保健，拉丁美洲50-60%的年轻人在一年内出现症状性康复（Stapinski et al. 2013, March et al. 2004）。本次后续活动源于一个独特的机会，将OLA的（“建设弹性”MR/S03580X/1）合作研究成果，利用艺术和技术，将生活在波哥大<e:1>（哥伦比亚）、布宜诺斯艾利斯（阿根廷）和利马（秘鲁）城市地区的年轻人的抑郁和焦虑带到新的受众面前。两年多来，英国和拉丁美洲的医学研究人员与艺术组织和年轻人一起探索，参与式艺术实践可以有效地理解为一种资源，可以支持年轻人建立弹性，克服抑郁和焦虑，特别是在获得心理健康服务既不是实际选择也不是优先考虑的情况下。迄今为止的调查结果表明，年轻人普遍认为音乐、绘画、绘画、舞蹈和创意写作是加强他们的关系、肯定他们的认同感并建立与社会支持系统和身份的联系的艺术形式/活动/过程。在波哥大<e:1>、利马和布宜诺斯艾利斯举办的讲习班上，政治能动性的增强、心理社会探索的机会、促进基于价值观的参与和发展丰富的艺术表达成为参与者的重要因素，这揭示了艺术如何为年轻人建立心理健康复原力的复杂性。青年人是各项倡议的最终受益者，现在至关重要的是，青年人的声音和经验应在制定和执行改善其心理健康的政策、干预措施和活动方面发挥核心作用。与年轻人、艺术组织和政策制定者的合作是这个项目的核心；我们的合作伙伴希望继续使用基于艺术的方法，将他们的数据和故事展示给他们自己更广泛的社区、地方政府、国家当局和国际网络，这是对这一愿望的回应。具体而言，这一后续项目将青年置于中心位置，使他们具备必要的技能，倡导和影响有关其心理健康复原力和康复的政策讨论。具有行动主义历史的青年大使（16-24岁）将参与OLA的研究，并设计、策划和促进与政策制定者的创造性对话，确保他们的紧急和重大发现影响精神卫生服务的发展。该计划还将汇集来自拉丁美洲各地的合作伙伴、年轻人、艺术组织、利益相关者和政策制定者的网络，开发一套实用的基于艺术的心理健康资源工具包，以便在该地区和其他地区共享。来自合作伙伴组织的青年大使和艺术家还将在波哥大、布宜诺斯艾利斯、利马和网络上共同制作公共装置，这些装置将与双语传播活动一起，让不同的当地和国际观众了解有关艺术和年轻人心理健康的原始研究成果。

Despite its Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (2013), the WHO reported in 2020 on the "worldwide failure to provide people with the mental health services they need, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting a growing need for mental health support" (WHO 2020). There is massive inequality related to the allocation of mental health resources in high- and low-income countries; due to the scarcity of financial and human resources, young people in Latin America rarely receive formal treatment for depression and/or anxiety (Rathod et al. 2017). However, despite the accumulated and ongoing adversity, and the lack of formal mental health care, 50-60% of young people in Latin America experience symptomatic recovery within one year (Stapinski et al. 2013, March et al. 2004).This Follow-On arises from a unique opportunity to bring OLA's ('Building Resilience' MR/S03580X/1) collaborative research on depression and anxiety amongst young people living in urban areas of Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lima (Peru) to new audiences, using art and technology. For over two years, medical researchers in the UK and Latin America have worked together with arts organisations and young people to explore ways that participatory arts practices can usefully be understood as a resource that can support young people to build resilience and overcome depression and anxiety, specifically in contexts where accessing mental health services are neither a practical option nor a priority. The findings to date demonstrate that young people commonly report music, painting, drawing, dance and creative writing as being art forms/activities/processes that strengthen their relationships, affirm their sense of identity and build connections to social support systems and identities. An increased sense of political agency, an opportunity for psycho-social exploration, the promotion of values-based engagement and the development of rich artistic expression emerged as strong factors for participants in the workshops in Bogotá, Lima and Buenos Aires, which revealed the complexity of how the arts build mental health resilience for young people. It is now crucial that the voices and experiences of young people, the ultimate beneficiaries of initiatives, take a central role in the development and implementation of policies, interventions and activities to improve their mental health. Collaboration with young people, arts organisations and policy-makers is at the centre of this project; a response to our partners' desire to continue to use arts-based methods to foreground their data and stories with their own wider communities, local governments, national authorities and international networks. Specifically, this Follow-On project places young people centre stage so that they have the necessary skills to advocate for and influence policy discussions about their mental health resilience and recovery. Young Ambassadors (16-24 year olds) with a history of activism will engage with the OLA research, and design, curate and facilitate creative conversations with policy-makers, ensuring that their urgent and consequential discoveries impact the development of mental health services. The programme will also bring together a network of partners, young people, arts organisations, stakeholders and policymakers from across Latin America, to develop a practical toolkit of arts-based mental health resources to share across the region and beyond. Young Ambassadors and artists from partner organisations will also co-produce public installations in Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, and online, which, alongside a bilingual communications campaign, will engage diverse local and international audiences with the original research findings about arts and young people's mental health.