Collaborative film-making as process, method and text in mental health research

This paper explores how film-making can assist as part of the development of sensitive and participative methodologies appropriate to accessing the worlds of people with severe and enduring mental health problems. It discusses how the film-making process can also act as a text that holds valuable data about the impact of the arts on mental health, and facilitates a range of mutually beneficial outcomes for those collaborating across usual academic/community divides. This agenda contributes to a consideration of the role of the arts in participative social geographies of mental health, and critically expands recent discussions about uses of video and film in a visual discipline.