Projects

Our Lives Through Our Eyes | View Gallery
"Our Lives Through Our Eyes", the first photovoice project to exclusively involve a group of people with a disability, was conducted with 13 members of Fellowship Place, a psychosocial rehabilitation clubhouse in New Haven, CT ( www.fellowshipplace.org ). "Our Lives Through Our Eyes" explored the utility of Photovoice as a participatory action research tool for people with a serious mental illness and enabled Fellowship Place members to educate the local mental health service providers and others in the New Haven community about what mattered in their lives. Both highly personal issues as well as universal themes emerged from the individual interviews and group dialogue that took place during the project.

"Our Lives Through Our Eyes" was presented as a slide shows at the local mental health center, developed into a video, and included on the photovoice website (www.photovoice.com).

Wellness As I See It | View Gallery
In the summer of 2003, the Services Division offered a photovoice class entitled "Wellness As I See It" to 11 students in our rehabilitation program called The Recovery Center. The 14-week class helped students use the photovoice technique to explore their ideas of personal and community wellness and in particular, to consider how these issues affect their recovery. The class format allowed for a vibrant exchange of knowledge, experiences, and ideas during discussions. The images and narratives that students shared revealed the multidimensional nature of wellness, the diversity of supports and resources that facilitate healing and growth, and the importance of viewing health and recovery from a holistic perspective.

Students' work from the "Wellness As I See It" project has been shared at a Center staff meeting and will be featured in the upcoming April workshop "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words".

photo by Helen