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Harsimran Sansoy
Harsimran Sansoy is a project manager for the ATTUNE project, which is part of the CHIMES Collaborative. She is interested in research into trauma, biological and therapeutic intervention - especially in adolescents.
I graduated in 2021 from the University of Leicester with an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences, specialising in Neuroscience. I was very lucky that the role of Project Manager on ATTUNE was offered to me just before graduation, and I started working there soon after.
ATTUNE looks at understanding the mechanisms behind poor adolescent mental health, specifically Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) using creative art methodology and lived experience. I’ve always felt that to understand young people, you need to include them in the work, so this was incredibly important to me.
The first session had historians, museum directors and psychiatrists talk about history and the institutional links between hospitals, patients and museums, followed by psychiatrists, artists and patients discussing the use of art as therapy and as a tool in psychosocial rehabilitation.
I was offered the opportunity to attend and present at the GHU Psychiatry and Arts conference in Paris on behalf of CHiMES. I received funding from the trip from Broadening Horizons – a scheme run by the Department of Psychiatry that helps fund early careers researchers to attend conferences. I had never been to France and I had never attended an international conference before. The few days in Paris were brilliant. I arrived on Wednesday 18 September, and met with the organisers and colleagues who had arrived from Mexico and Argentina. The language barrier was such an interesting dynamic to navigate as they could all speak Spanish and bits of French and English. They were all so friendly and welcoming, my nerves were calmed almost immediately.
The day of the conference, all the presenters were invited to a guided tour of the D’Orsay Museum where I got to meet more colleagues from Japan, Pakistan, Ukraine, Uganda, Canada and France, followed by a quick lunch. The afternoon kicked of the conference. The first session had historians, museum directors and psychiatrists talk about history and the institutional links between hospitals, patients and museums, followed by psychiatrists, artists and patients discussing the use of art as therapy and as a tool in psychosocial rehabilitation.
© Harsimran Sansoy
Guided tour of the D’Orsay Museum
On the second day, I had the scary task of being the first presenter of the day. Of course, no presentation could go without tech issues as my presentation was missing from their downloads – very thankful I had a USB backup.
I made a lot of connections that I never would have made if I hadn’t attended and I am still in touch with them now.
My presentation was about the use of different arts methodologies in mental health research within our Oxford group; photovoice in Co-Pact and Co-Pics, online museums in Origin and the use of multi-model arts in ATTUNE, finishing with ‘Just Surviving’, a short animation produced by Aardman Animation in collaboration with the young people from ATTUNE.
During refreshment breaks and lunch, it was lovely having people ask me further questions and if there was any capacity for them to get involved.
There were also fascinating presentations from Bymah Mutamba, about using photovoice in Uganda with psychosis patients, Pablo Farias about using photographic resources in communities in Mexico affected by violence and/or displacement, Ana Gomez-Carrillo gave a presentation on working with the Inuit community and Lyudmyla Snovyda from Ukraine, showing us the use of art during wartimes. There was so much brilliant work being done that left a lasting impression.
© Harsimran Sansoy
Attendees lined up on stage at the GHU Confrence
This event was a large collaboration between France and Japan and had been in the works for two years, with a series of webinars taking place before the in-person conference. It was insightful to hear others and their field of research, such as the transcultural importance of art and the use of the physical body in art.
The conference was powerful and the people were incredible. I made a lot of connections that I never would have made if I hadn’t attended and I am still in touch with them now. For ATTUNE and CHiMES, this was a great opportunity to disseminate our work and connect with similar projects globally, but also see how they can help us disseminate our findings on a wider scale and hopefully collaborate with them going forward.