Dr Izzy Crawford, Associate Dean at Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University, presented about her COIL@UArctic work at the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) conference in Aarhus, Denmark on 27th March. The presentation was delivered alongside Suzanne Fox, who is the co-founder of The Yellow Tulip Project which is also a member of UArctic. The presentation entitled: “Planting hope and smashing the stigma – one yellow tulip bulb at a time: innovative approaches to addressing youth mental health through the arts, storytelling and gardens”, introduced participants to a unique Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project that focuses on creative strength based approaches to addressing the youth mental health crisis and the stigmatisation associated with it.
Storytelling, visual expression, and nature based interventions are all inventive ways that challenge structural stigma and emotional silence, allowing individual experiences to gain dignity and resonance. Sharing stories illustrate both personal recovery and the forging of new social relationships and help foster collective connection. Our data shows that community-based conversations, community art, and nature based programs build social connections and help reduce social isolation.They also demonstrate how narrative and art can shift mental health from an isolated clinical category to a cultural concern, transforming stigma into dialogue, recognition, and collective healing.
The ASSW session demonstrated how a variety of community-based programs, ranging from public art exhibitions, storytelling programs, and the planting of community Hope Gardens can begin to normalise the experience of youth mental illness and to thereby dismantle the stigma associated with it. It focussed on three specific collaborative interactions that all show the power of community connection in smashing the stigma. These included: 1) The findings from the 2024-2025 Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project that brought students together on a bi-monthly basis to discuss mental health stigma and create a collective plan for action on university campuses; 2) The findings from The Yellow Tulip Project’s art and storytelling initiatives: I Am More: Facing Stigma and Young Men Moving ; and 3) The planting of Hope Gardens to demonstrate the positive impact of building community resilience.
Together, these approaches demonstrate how we can bridge the gap between individuals and society, reframing mental health from a private struggle into a shared public dialogue. These community-based interventions build social connections, reduce social isolation and start to normalize the experience of youth with mental illness by reducing the associated stigma.
Dr Crawford’s attendance was supported by the Arctic Travel and Partnerships Grant, provided through the Scottish Government’s Scottish Education Exchange Programme. Photograph (c) University of St Andrews, CC BY-NC 4.0. Adapted version (colour change).
