In 2016 I discovered an art therapy studio called Studio Upstairs. At a difficult time in my life and throughout the strenuous recovery process connected to loss and mourning, I chose to focus on the connection between art and well-being. I soon realised that this project was as much about my own personal journey as it is about the members and volunteers I was documenting. I found that sharing a space with other individuals whom attended the studio for various different reasons, was therapeutic for me. Art therapy and creative expression is known to help in the recovery process, and the ability to communicate complex inner emotions in alternate ways is invaluable.
This work provides a small insight into a creative space that provides all people the opportunity (they may not have elsewhere) to express themselves amongst the support of likeminded individuals and professionals. The solidarity and openness I experienced at both the Bristol and London studios has encouraged me to be more open in sharing my own personal work. Thank you to all the people at Studio Upstairs I had the privilege of meeting.
On the one hand it's a shame there are not more places like studio upstairs, and on the other hand there is the reality of why there is a need for such places to exist at all. I like attending studio upstairs; it is an important, if not essential aspect of my mental health treatment. That said, certain challenges are part of the experience of attending the studio. Every member is a mental health service user, with that comes our own wide and varied individual mental health problems. Each individual's diagnosis and symptoms differ, if ever there was a good way to exemplify that mental health problems cannot be generalised and easily put into categories, then studio upstairs offers such an insight.
Studio upstairs is a place which for many attending can break the cycle of social isolation, mixing with other service users/members/studio staff is both good and bad at times. It's easy to have a misunderstanding or disagreement with someone, fallings out are not uncommon, individual relationships can be a complex affair really. To the outside world we are probably all very 'difficult' people. By the same contrast, one can get a sense of solidarity with others, because of our alienation from society.
- Studio member.
