Today’s guest is Louise Thompson, the Health and Wellbeing Manager at Manchester Art Gallery and freelance professional, who supports colleagues in finding creative ways to improve their health.
In this episode, Louise explains what her job looks and feels like and outlines how the relationships between the Gallery, and other partner organisations, such as the NHS and other local mental health charities are initiated, developed and are sustained.
Louise’s also outlines her definition of mindfulness – which is fascinating to hear, as well as an overview of the ‘Room to Breath’ exhibition currently on display at Manchester Art Gallery. This is a dedicated space in the gallery where the furniture, colour scheme, number and height of art works, text and audio meditations have all been carefully chosen in a way that we hope will encourage deeper engagement with art and reduce stress – it’s a space I spent a lovely and relaxing 45 minutes in when I visited in April 2023.
In our chat we also talk about Louise’s own practice as a Freelance Creative Health Practitioner, trainer and consultant – and how that came up as a result of having more time after her daughter started growing up. In this role, Louise works with galleries, schools and communities, sharing her unique and specialist skill set around how culture and creativity can help improve people’s wellbeing. This can include training teams on mindfulness, creating resources and delivering workshops with both staff and the public.
Looking to the future, Louise is interested in Trauma Informed Practice -and how this can potentially be integrated into different areas of the Gallery’s activities, including (but not exclusive to) exhibition design, interpretation and wider communications strategies,
This conversation took place during a trip to Manchester in April 2023. We recorded this one on a beautiful sunny day, when the blossom trees were in full bloom all around the gallery. We used one of the meeting rooms at Manchester Art Gallery and the occasional rumbles you can hear in the background are the city’s tram network!
As always, I’ve put links to things we discussed into the podcast notes and also in the list below, so you can easily look things up, if you want a bit more detail about anything we discussed.
If you have any questions or queries, you can message me through Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, or here on the Cultural Peeps WordPress site.
Thanks again to Louise for her time and I hope you enjoy the episode!
Links:
Manchester Art Gallery: https://manchesterartgallery.org/
Museum Mindfulness: https://museummindfulness.com/
NHS (Mindfulness): https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/tips-and-support/mindfulness/
Manchester Mind: https://www.manchestermind.org/
Turning Point: https://www.turning-point.co.uk/
Recovery Pathways: https://www.gmmh.nhs.uk/recovery-pathways/
Room to Breathe (Exhibition at Manchester City Art Gallery): https://manchesterartgallery.org/event/room-to-breathe/
And Breath (Exhibition at Manchester City Art Gallery): https://manchesterartgallery.org/event/and-breathe/
Manchester Art Gallery’s Soundcloud Page: https://soundcloud.com/manchester-art-gallery
Looking with Mindfulness – Derek Wilkinson, Still Life, 1961: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoNs8QeW_hg
Trauma Informed Practice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-definition-of-trauma-informed-practice/working-definition-of-trauma-informed-practice#:~:text=Trauma%2Dinformed%20practice%20is%20an,biological%2C%20psychological%20and%20social%20development.
Cultural Peeps 