Karen Barrett
Challenge
Mental health services need to be redesigned so that the user is an active participant in their own treatment and care.
Wellbeing theories cite personal autonomy as a key contributor to life satisfaction. Yet, personal autonomy is often stripped from an individual in the care of mental health services.
Impact
Misery Matters is a series of innovative, therapeutic workshops. The exercises are specifically designed for users to develop a sense of ownership over their own emotional narratives. Each workshop is specialised to a particular user group: as such each workshop approaches the topic of misery from a nuanced perspective. However, the over-arching theme is to allow participants a sense of empowerment over their personal emotional story and to generate a means of sharing this story with others.
Karen Barrett is an Irish designer and recent graduate of MA Interaction Design in Goldsmiths, University of London. Karen started her career in University College Cork, where she completed a BA in Applied Psychology. Her practice is informed by her studies, work in the field of design and psychology and experience as a corporate Learning Advisor.