Culturally Mindful: Journeys with mental health at Wandsworth CAMHS
To celebrate Culturally Mindful, a creative health residency programme delivered in partnership with Wandsworth London Borough of Culture, our Wandsworth CAMHS team hosted a fun and heartfelt event to mark the installation of our new mural. Hear how the programme has brought people together to explore mental health and personal stories through art.
Getting creative
Over six weeks, artist Shiza Naveed worked with CAMHS patients and staff to explore journeys with mental health. Each session began with a check-in and grounding exercise, inviting participants to pause, breathe and notice how they were feeling.
Shiza then led a warmup artistic activity. For example, asking attendees to intuitively draw timelines of their lives or express how they were feeling through words or abstract shapes. Not only did this help people access their creativity but also brought patients and staff together by providing an opportunity for everyone to share their experiences side-by-side.
Once everyone was feeling comfortable, it was time for the main activity, where everyone was invited to paint, draw or use pastels on a hexagon tile, exploring themes such as nature, identity, places of comfort and community, windows into other worlds, and words of affirmation. This resulted in pieces featuring abstract shapes, landscapes, meaningful statements, and more – each personal and different to the next.
As well as working with older CAMHS patients, Shiza spent time with the under 5’s CAMHS team and families under their care. Experimenting with colours and paints and taking inspiration from animals, nature and stories of transformation, children under 5 and their parents/carers dew and painted together. This not only provided space for children and parents/carers to spend time together, but also to be messy and explorative with their artwork.
Celebrating our new mural
To celebrate the installation of the artwork created during the programme, Wandsworth CAMHS welcomed young people and their families, as well as staff from across Springfield Hospital, to see the mural in place and chat about what the project has meant to them.
Gathering in front of the artwork, we heard from artist Shiza and Dr Jaxon Kramer, Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist and Lead for Patient Participation and Involvement at Wandsworth CAMHS, who spoke about the impact the programme has had.
Shiza said: “I just want to say thank you so much for coming to the sessions, and for being so bold and brave, both in everything that you were sharing, but also with everything that you were doing on the canvases. I hope you feel proud looking at your work. I also want to say a massive thank you to Angela Knight from Sound Minds who delivered the sessions with me, and to the Tier 3 CAMHS and under-5s teams. You have all been a wonderful support, and I hope you have enjoyed the process as well.”
While Dr Jaxon said: “I think the most meaningful impact from this programme is that young people get to leave their mark. They get to leave a gentle statement that they were here and they did the work. Hospitals can be scary and seeing the experiences of young people and staff is so welcoming and normalising for people coming to and working in our services. Thank you to all the young people who have made the programme such a success.”
Alongside exploring the new artwork, guests enjoyed games, snacks and the opportunity to socialise. People also took part in an additional creative activity, decorating small hexagons with drawings, words or colours representing what the event – or the artwork – meant to them. These were added to the exhibition wall, creating a growing mosaic at Wandsworth CAMHS.
Coming together to recognise the hard work and generosity of everyone involved, as well the success of the partnership with Wandsworth London Borough of Culture has been a real highlight of 2026 for our Trust and demonstrates how we continue to build on the legacy of our art programme at Springfield Hospital.
