The Canadian Mental Health Association began its advocacy work in 1917 based on evident community needs. Families and individuals brought their desire for better mental health outcomes into an association which today spans Canada.
In 2017, the Alberta chapter of CMHA put together its first province wide conference where different communities came together to convene around the issues of mental health practice in communities and workplaces.
Conference engagement materials in the form of "research cards" were designed for the mental health community to get to know each other, share research and understand the wider system they are a part of.
Collaborative Visual Dictionary
To build off the previous card, we also asked attendees to draw a face and to also write an emotion. Insights could then be drawn from the similarities and differences in the pictures along with the emotions tied to them.
Empathy Map
Empathy Map questions were designed to capture the experience conference attendees have in mental health maintenance. Attendees were given one of six different empathy questions
Inquiry Map
In this card, conference attendees are asked what mental health questions they themselves are asking and what part of the mental health ecosystem they are a part of. The goal of these cards is to match different communities who are asking the same questions.
Drivers of Change
OCAD and CMHA collaborated in the collection of emerging trends and drivers that may have an impact on the future of mental health practice in Alberta. In this card, conference attendees are asked to choose their top three factors.
Research trees were set up at each of the conference tables which attendees were asked to populate with their completed research cards. Throughout the conference, research trees were moved from table to table, allowing attendees to see the responses of others. Anonymised research cards were also projected on the conference big screen throughout the weekend.
