Can science museums help us talk about mental health?

Moving beyond traditional roles as communicators of established knowledge, science museums are engaging more and more with difficult societal issues.

Despite the pressing importance of responding to mental health globally and locally, science museums are have rarely been connected to this topic.

I argue, however, that science museums are increasingly becoming emotional sites where difficult issues, including mental health, can be approached.

This affirmation is supported by research I conducted over the past 10 years in different countries, including Canada, Portugal, the United States and Finland .

Key challenge of our time Mental health is a key challenge of our times.

Research from the World Health Organization shows how governments around the world have been responding to growing levels of loneliness, social isolation and mental distress.

In this scenario, social connection is increasingly recognized as a critical issue for public health and well-being.

My research examines a challenging transformation in how science museums understand their roles and purposes through initiatives with a mental health focus, as across the world, science museums begin to join conversations and develop work about this theme.

Finnish exhibit My research about hosting a mental health exhibition at a science centre talks about an exhibition originally developed by Heureka, the Finnish science centre .

The exhibit engaged with mental health through personal narratives, immersive environments (such as a “schizophrenia room”), displays to help express emotions and scientific perspectives.

The Finnish Central Association for Mental Health was part of the exhibition’s scientific advisory board (as well as psychiatrists), and through this body, organizers worked with “peer experts” — people with lived experiences of mental health problems who had support learning how to communicate what they’d been through.

Organized around three main themes — “The Labeled,” “How does it feel” and “Go Crazy!” — the exhibit was intended to support visitors in safely talking about mental health and in developing empathy.

Finnish versus American context In 2018, the exhibit was hosted by the Science Museum of Minnesota .

At that time, I was part of a research team that studied how staff adapted the exhibit for the American audience.