Mitigating Mental Health Through The Arts

Repeated suicide cases at the University of Malawi triggered the motivation for “Suicide Awareness and Prevention Week” which took place during the “Mental Health Month” from the 8th to 14th May 2023. It involved various types of performing and fine arts, a field to glean lessons from to help in mental health mitigation. Suicide, an aftermath of mental healthdisorders and one of the causes of death globally across ages and people of diverse economic status is on the increase globally. It is ranked the 10th leading cause of death for all ages in the United States. This paper’s problem statement is a response to a callexpressing the need for a wide-ranging interdisciplinary response with knowledge of prevention and universal interventions on mental health. The rationale is that everyone engages with performing arts daily, which is proven to assist in various mental health issues; it is imperative to explore on maximization of arts to intervene due to the increase in mental health cases. The study hypothesizes that arts can mitigate mental health. The research question states: How can arts be maximized in reducing mental health cases? This paper analyzes the “Suicide Awareness and Prevention Week” project with Heron’s Six Categories of Intervention highlighting practices worth emulating in managing mental health. This research implies motivating more practitioners to maximize the use of the power of arts in mental health. Some of the key results include reduced mental cases, increased awareness and information on where to get help, increased care for one another and increased motivation to participate in mitigation. The main finding is that arts are powerful tools in mental health mitigation.