Project Overview: Change Minds is a program designed to engage participants from diverse backgrounds with mental health challenges, in exploring local heritage through archival research and creative activities to improve their mental wellbeing, develop skills, and improve confidence. The project is a collaboration between The Restoration Trust, Norfolk Record Office (NRO), and various mental health and community partners. To date, 14 Change Minds projects have been completed across the UK, including in Norfolk, Lancashire, Kent, Bristol, Carmarthenshire, and Dundee.  A total of 148 people attended most of the sessions on these projects – an average of 10.5 people per project.

Key Outcomes:

1. Participant Wellbeing:
   • Participants reported significant improvements in mental health and wellbeing, with many indicating that the program helped them maintain good mental health and supported their recovery journey. One participant shared, “I find it relaxing here, it’s like sunshine and it has made me feel that I can come out of this OK.”
   • The program provided a safe, non-judgmental space for participants to connect with others, reflect on their mental health, and engage in creative activities. Another participant noted, “The project works on a number of levels, it means you get to know people from the inside out.”
   • Participants formed significant friendships and felt a sense of belonging. One participant mentioned, “I found a big change from when I first started – I was in a bad place anyway when they first introduced Change Minds and ‘would you like to go to this’ and it’s really helped me.”
   • Participants expressed that the program gave them a sense of purpose and structure. One participant stated, “It gave me something to get up for on a Friday – really important for structure.”
   • The program also helped participants feel more optimistic about the future and more relaxed. One participant shared, “I better understand the depth and breadth of my depression and how powerful one’s state of mind can be.”
   • Participants reported feeling more connected to others and more confident in their abilities. One participant noted, “I already had rather over average self-awareness, reflection and introspection; the project gave me the opportunity to apply all of that to interactions with others.”
   • The creative and historical aspects of the program helped participants reflect on their own mental health and see it in a more positive light. One participant shared, “I think that barrier of … I’ve got a mental health difficulty, you can see it coming down, you know, and what they want to do now is they want to let other people know that actually … … having a mental health difficulty [means] we can do so much more.”
   • The program’s focus on recovery and positive outcomes helped participants feel empowered and hopeful. One participant stated, “Having the case studies with recovery as an outcome allowed me to see my mental health in a more positive light.”
   • Participants developed social relationships, learned new skills, and experienced increased resilience and empowerment. One participant noted, “It’s made me realise I’m not alone. You know being honestly truthful it’s made me think I’m not that bad, a bit. But in a way that’s a good thing; another way it’s not because you know what am I moaning about?”
2. Skill Development:
   • Participants developed new skills, including archival research, creative expression, and interpersonal skills. One participant remarked, “I learned no entirely new skills but improved many such as self-expression, offering and accepting help, research skills.”
   • The program fostered increased confidence and self-esteem among participants, with many expressing a newfound interest in history and heritage. A participant shared, “It was fantastic and we saw so much more of the real, confident [person]. It was magical.”
   • Participants gained valuable skills in historical research, creative writing, and art. One participant said, “I’ve never been to an archive centre… it was brand new to me… I found it very easy to be able to [navigate]… and it was so easy.”
   • Participants also developed practical skills such as bookbinding and woodworking. One participant mentioned, “The bookbinding was really good but I think the most important thing is … time in the archives.”
   • The program encouraged participants to explore their creative side, often pushing them out of their comfort zones. One participant shared, “I didn’t expect to feel so much emotional investment in a fifteen-year-old girl. Oh, I was really invested in her.”
   • Creativity was emphasized as a contributor to social and emotional well-being. One participant shared, “Creative writing is a form of expression; you don’t have to write for other people you can write for yourself. But also, because it’s a friend, because you write and it might be your own voice is coming out and you listen to your own voice, it’s a sort of friend it’s somewhere to go.”
3. Community and Social Impact:
   • The program facilitated strong group bonding and mutual support among participants, reducing feelings of isolation and promoting social inclusion. One participant stated, “It is such a nice group we have gelled really well. We help each other, everybody has their different talents from being crafty to the ability to transcribe and the ability to read well.”
   • Participants’ creative works were showcased in exhibitions, raising awareness of mental health issues and the value of heritage. A participant shared, “The creative aspects were so valuable as a way of channelling what I had discovered about George.”
   • Creative workshops fostered a sense of community and belonging. One participant noted, “The bookbinding was really good but I think the most important thing is to get more time in the archives.”
   • The program provided opportunities for participants to engage with the wider community through public events and exhibitions. One participant shared, “People spoke to a group in a difficult room and they would never have done that at the start.”
   • The program’s impact extended beyond the participants, as it also engaged their families and friends. One participant’s family member noted, “She has come out of herself and wouldn’t have talked to you before; she would have been in the other room red-faced.”
   • Social relationships were highlighted as crucial for improving mental health and well-being. One participant shared, “A lot of it boils down to friendship and being back part of society as anything. I just tend to lock myself away and, if I hadn’t had this group, I don’t know where I’d be now.”
4. Organizational Learning and Capacity Building:
   • The program provided valuable insights into the delivery of mental health and heritage projects on a national scale. The Restoration Trust reported learning more about archives, scaling up, and building a functional Hub online/offline.
   • The development of the Change Minds Hub, a project development and support service backed by an online project planning, delivery and evaluation resource, has standardized and streamlined the delivery of the program, reducing costs and increasing accessibility.
   • The program successfully engaged participants with local heritage and improved their mental health. The program exceeded expectations in terms of its impact on participants, partners, and the wider archive and mental health community.
   • Providing a safe and supportive environment for participants to explore their mental health and develop new skills was emphasized. One participant shared, “It’s really exciting to be part of something. It’s reignited my creative side. I mean, I’ve met people I wouldn’t meet in my social circle before and it’s been really interesting.”

Conclusion: Change Minds has demonstrated substantial positive impacts on participants’ mental health, skills, and social inclusion. The program’s success highlights the potential for further expansion and the importance of continued investment in heritage-based mental health initiatives. As one participant aptly put it, “I was deeply impacted by this course. People matter, and no matter what labels you have, you are still a person, no one should forget that and indeed, we should all take time to remind ourselves of this.”