Stigma is a major barrier to people being retained in opioid substitution treatment (OST) and recovering from opioid dependency; people who use OST are often stigmatised both for their drug use, as well as the medications they receive (for instance in healthcare settings). People who use crack cocaine and heroin are especially stigmatised and Bristol has a particularly high incidence of people who use both substances concurrently. (read more)

Women who have had female circumcision/female genital mutilation (FC/FGM) often experience life-long consequences in relation to health, wellbeing, and sexual functioning. However, current policy in the UK tends to ignore these needs in favour of policies which seek to protect potential future victims. (read more)

Social media use is now ubiquitous among young people. Learning to navigate social media algorithms is a key skill required to live well in a digitalised 21st century. The ultimate goal of this co-designed intervention would be to empower young people to use social media safely and confidently by minimising exposure to material that may be detrimental to their mental health. (read more)

They project’s overarching aim was to explore how we can use intelligent sensing to personalise a health and wellbeing soft robotic device such that this device responds to its user, adapt to their needs and preferences, and yields a satisfactory experience. (read more)

The field of soft robotics has the potential to provide superior alternative modes of communication to address some of these issues. Soft robots are constructed from materials similar to those found in living organisms and can also move and adapt to their surroundings like living things. (read more)

The aims of this project were to forge new relationships among modern pagan practitioners, mental health practitioners, and academics, and to brainstorm about relationships between ‘paganism’ and mental wellbeing. (read more)

Alongside a wellbeing crisis amongst the teaching profession (as evidenced in the latest Teacher Wellbeing Index (2021)), there is also a crisis in pupil mental health and wellbeing, which undoubtedly has an impact on those teachers working with them. According to The Independent, a teaching union found that pupil mental health is the main concern of school staff (The Independent, 7th June 2021, accessed online). (read more)

‘Walking and Re-Creation’ was an interdisciplinary conversation which brought together the worlds of performance and public health, history and the contemporary moment, practice and theory. It took a long historical view of walking as a form of exercise, transport, healthy activity, and leisure to merge past and present, with the aim of discovering what walking then can tell us about walking and wellbeing now, in the age of coronavirus at the time. (read more)

A core outcome of that project was the development of a Diary Toolkit and the generation of data on its efficacy for improving teacher wellbeing in the UK. Lucy Kelly worked closely with local teachers through focus groups and workshops and Grace Huxford explored the history of diaries and examined the archival holdings of the Theatre Collection and Bristol Special Collection. (read more)