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Intervention Reflective Report

Content warning: suicide

Introduction 

My intervention aims to create positive studio cultures through having dedicated mobile-phone free studios, agreed in a co-design process with students[1]. Underpinning the intervention is a desire to support students’ positive wellbeing and mental health. This is informed by the teaching context of my role as Year 2 (Y2) Leader for the BA Fine Art (BAFA) at Chelsea; my own positionality and lived experience; and my professional expertise in my art practice.

The BAFA course has a large cohort of students, and in 25-26 cohort will be approximately 180 students in 2Y alone. We will have 14 different studio rooms across 3 different floors of B-Block at Chelsea. In my role as 2Y Leader I have undertaken Mental Health First Aider training (completed Autumn 2024).

Mental health is not just a field of interest for me but grounded in my own lived experiences. I disclosure this with some hesitation, as Gupta et al (2023 p.1646) points out that for lived experience researchers, “…their credibility… and the knowledge they produce may be doubted, for example by epistemic injustice where they are perceived through the stigmatised lens of a service user and their place in a hierarchy”. However, as hooks (1994 p.76) states, “I know that experience can be a way to know and can inform how we know what we know. Though opposed to any essentialist practice that constructs identity in a monolithic, exclusionary way, I do not want to relinquish the power of experience…” I am encouraged by feminists like bell hooks to view the personal as political. I have had a varied journey through periods of my own mental ill-health, and have had counselling, specialist trauma therapy and CBT. I have also experienced the loss of both a wider family member and a close friend to suicide. The most challenging dynamics I face in my role are where students’ mental ill health triggers these experiences.

In my art practice I have produced extensive work and research around the interplay between mental health and digital cultures [Beales (2017)]. In my body of work ‘Are We All Addicts Now’[2] I focused on how behavioral psychology was employed within mobile apps to keep ‘users’ on device. I have also worked extensively as an artist in mental health contexts, for example, undertaking a residency in the NHS’ only clinic treating online behavioural addictions (2021)[3].

Context – Macro and Micro

The Office for Students’ Equality of Opportunity Risk register (2024) lists ‘Mental Health’ as one of 12 risks negatively affecting students’ progression and completion. UAL’s Access and Participation Plan found that 3 groups of students are exposed to equality of opportunity risks. They are:

  • students from areas with the most deprivation (ie Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) Q1-2 areas).
  • students from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in general and Black students in particular.
  • disabled students, especially those with mental health conditions and multiple disabilities.

There appears to be limited intersectional analysis of how these categories overlap, but it is clear from my teaching experience that this is often the case.

The 2Y BAFA Course Student Survey (CSS) results have recently been released and whilst there is some very positive and encouraging data, the lowest performing area (69.4%) is the question about the Mental Wellbeing Services (Fig 1).

Fig 1. 2Y BAFA Chelsea CSS 24-25 results

A national survey [Baker and Kirk-Wade (2024)] found that among those aged 17 to 19, 10% had a probable mental disorder in 2017, rising to 23% in 2023 (emphasis mine), a sharp increase. In 2025-26, these are the 19–21-year-olds on the 2Y. However, in Chelsea’s specific context, student disclosures of mental health conditions are only 3.4% according to the UAL Dashboard. Our experience on the BAFA is more in line with the national picture, with the team regularly dealing with high levels of mental distress amongst our students. There is evidently, a culture of non-disclosure[4], which is a larger research topic which deserves some sustained enquiry.

What we do know, is that only 69% of our 2Y students agreed that the mental support services provision at Chelsea was well communicated.

Fig 2. BAFA Y2 CSS 24-25 Mental Wellbeing results

In 24-25 the onsite mental health support was only available for a couple of hours a week over lunchtime, in a room tucked away. It seems clear that with over 5,000 students based at Chelsea, there is a case for a dedicated mental health worker to be onsite at least 3 days a week in an accessible location. I am currently engaged in ongoing conversations to lobby for increased provision.

My intervention has been designed using a positive psychology approach[5] with a goal of developing positive studio communities. Whilst digital tools can enable positive collaborations (and I regularly use digital mediums in both my teaching and art practice) the mechanics of smart phone usage have a largely negative correlation to both mental health and concentration. There is a significant body of research evidencing that the dynamics around social media apps (reliant on smartphones) are the most problematic for mental health [e.g. Girela-Serrano, B.M. et al. (2022) p.1646]. The detrimental effects of media-multi-tasking and inability of students’ to self-regulate smartphone media usage, is increasingly evidenced [Dontre (2021) p.387]. In these extractive environments, users attention is the currency sold to advertisers, with the user rewarded in a process Moore [(2017)] terms ‘dopamining’. Instagram and other such platforms privilege the ‘glance’ at the expense of the ‘gaze’ [Zulli (2017) p.147]. In art practice, a deep and sustained, active ‘looking’ is an important part of visual literacy.

It is not just a question of teaching but of ‘being’ together. Given that face-to-face interactions have a strong correlation to quality of life[6], how can we encourage these dynamics in our studio cultures?

Inclusive learning

Intersectionality is very important in any discussion around mental health as I have already intimated. Specifically in relation to mobile usage, Disabled students might need more access to their phones as an access requirement for multiple reasons e.g. as a reasonable adjustment to record a seminar or to arrange taxis, to access support networks or to correspond with medical professionals. There are other groups who may need to access their mobile more. International students can use translation software and this needs to be normalized rather than stigmatized. Simply, any intervention would need to be sensitively co-designed with students who need to be given space to articulate valid reasons why they might need access to their phone in a studio environment.

Reflection 

I found both tutor feedback and peer feedback very helpful. I was concerned in advance that this may be perceived as a ‘Luddite’ position by both tutors and peers, as in the past I have found debates about technology usage binary rather than nuanced. However, peers Andrea and Umi both reflected that they ask students to turn off mobile phones in taught sessions. Whilst I am seeking to extend the scope to cover the context of self-directed studios, I was encouraged to find some of my concerns about mobile phone usage shared.

Interactions with tutors have encouraged me to value my embodied expertise as someone with lived experience with mental ill-health. Their input has caused me to reflect more deeply on what researcher self-care and well-being mean in this project, and in my teaching role more generally. As Audre Lorde (1998:131) says, “Caring for [oneself] is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” I need to find on-going ways to safeguard and recharge myself.

I also reflected on the role of studios in the context of fine art pedagogy and how this differs to a design or architectural approach although these are often conflated [cf. Corazzo (2019)]. The studio within artists’ practice has a distinct contribution [Salazar (2013)], one that is under pressure from various factors such as pressures on space, increasing student numbers and financial pressures on students’ limiting their time in studio spaces.  

Action 

Through the reflective process initiated by this report, I have rethought the scale and design of my intervention. Rather than my instinctive response to be over-ambitious and roll it out across my year group (7 tutor groups in total) I will start with a simple intervention in my own tutor group first. Only when and if, I can evidence efficacy, will I try and scale it up across the other tutor groups. This will help minimise the management I will have to do of my 2Y team, in terms of getting them to deliver something that is at such an experimental stage.

Evaluation of your process

As a neurodiverse person I can be very expansive in my thinking [7]. This can be challenging to manage and can tip into overwhelm. Trying to design an intervention that makes a positive contribution can feel paralyzing as there are so many systemic issues at play within mental health[8], many of which are out of my control. The territory demands multiple interventions but there are always limitations on resources.

The input I have received from tutors and peers has made me question the sustainability of the interventions I already make in my role. I need to consider how I regulate my own workload so I avoid burnout. We teach because we care, but if we don’t place limits on caring, particularly whilst doing affective labour that chimes with our own lived experience, we can run out of energy to care at all.

It is also clear I need to involve students not just in the design but also the evaluation of any intervention and need to embed this as part of the Action Research design process.

Conclusion 

This Reflective Report has made me open to redesigning my intervention as part of the Autumn’s Action Research unit. I want to consider in my depth the ethical considerations for myself and others. As part of this, I want to start with more research to understand ethnographic research methodologies and investigate relevant co-design models.

1650 words (not including footnotes)

Bibliography:

Baker, C. and Kirk-Wade, E. (2024) Mental health statistics: Prevalence, services and funding in England – House of Commons Library, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06988/ (Accessed: 26 May 2025).

Beales, K. et al. (2017) Are we all addicts now? Digital Dependence edited by Bartlett, V and Bowden-Jones, H. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press.

Carr, A., Cullen, K., Keeney, C., Canning, C., Mooney, O., Chinseallaigh, E. and O’Dowd, A. (2020). Effectiveness of positive psychology interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(6), pp.749–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1818807.

James Corazzo (2019) Materialising the Studio. A systematic review of the role of the material space of the studio in Art, Design and Architecture Education, The Design Journal, 22:sup1, 1249-1265, DOI: 10.1080/14606925.2019.1594953

Dontre AJ. ‘The influence of technology on academic distraction: A review.’ Hum Behav & Emerg Tech. 2021; 3: 379–390. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.229

Girela-Serrano, B.M. et al. (2022) ‘Impact of mobile phones and wireless devices use on children and adolescents’ mental health: A systematic review’, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(6), pp. 1621–1651. doi:10.1007/s00787-022-02012-8.

Gupta, V., Eames, C., Golding, L., Greenhill, B., Qi, R., Allan, S., Bryant, A. and Fisher, P. (2023). ‘Understanding the Identity of Lived Experience Researchers and providers: a Conceptual Framework and Systematic Narrative Review.’ Research Involvement and Engagement, [online] 9(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-023-00439-0.

Hill , A. (2024) ‘Group of 17 London Secondary Schools join up to go smartphone-free’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/group-of-17-london-secondary-schools-join-up-to-go-smartphone-free (Accessed: 23 May 2025).

Hooks, Bell. ‘Teaching to Transgress : Education As the Practice of Freedom’, Taylor & Francis Group, 1994. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=1656118.
Created from ual on 2025-07-14 09:14:21.

Hudson, D., 2024. ‘Specific Learning Differences, What Teachers Need to Know: Embracing Neurodiversity in the Classroom’. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Jones, C.H. and Whittle, R. (2021). ‘Researcher self‐care and caring in the research community’. Area. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12703.

Lawrance, E.L. et al. (2022) ‘Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the covid-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: An online survey study’, The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(9), pp. 726–738. doi:10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00172-3.

Lee, P.S.N., Leung, L., Lo, V., Xiong, C. and Wu, T. (2010). Internet Communication Versus Face-to-face Interaction in Quality of Life. Social Indicators Research, [online] 100(3), pp.375–389. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9618-3.

Lopez-Fernandez, O. et al. (2017) ‘Self-reported dependence on mobile phones in young adults: A European cross-cultural empirical survey’, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), pp. 168–177. doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.020.

Lorde, A. (1988). A burst of light: Essays. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books.

Moore, G. (in press). Dopamining and Disadjustment: Addiction and Digital Capitalism. In V. Bartlett, & H. Bowden-Jones (Eds.), Are We All Addicts Now? Digital Dependence (68-75). Liverpool University Press

Moriña, A. (2024) When what is unseen does not exist: disclosure, barriers and supports for students with invisible disabilities in higher education, Disability & Society, 39:4, 914-932, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2022.2113038

Officeforstudents.org.uk. (2024). Equality of Opportunity Risk Register – Office for Students. [online] Available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/equality-of-opportunity/equality-of-opportunity-risk-register/ (accessed 13 July 2025)

Salazar, S.M. (2013). Studio Interior: Investigating Undergraduate Studio Art Teaching and Learning. Studies in Art Education, 55(1), pp.64–78. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00393541.2013.11518917.

UAL Access and Participation Plan (accessed July 2025) https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/458346/University-of-the-Arts-London-Access-and-Participation-Plan-2025-26-to-2028-29-PDF-1297KB.pdf

UAL Dashboard CSS results (accessed June 2025)

Zulli, D. (2018). Capitalizing on the look: Insights into the glance, attention economy, and instagram. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 35(2), pp.137–150. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2017.1394582.

Footnotes:

[1] See my Intervention blog post https://kbealespgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/05/26/ip-unit-intervention/

[2] ‘Are We All Addicts Now?’ (2017) exhibitIon by Katriona Beales at Furtherfield https://www.furtherfield.org/are-we-all-addicts-now/

[3] See public event with the Arts and Health Hub which disseminated the outcomes of this residency https://www.artsandhealthhub.org/events/residency

[4] See Moriña (2024) When what is unseen does not exist

[5] Positive psychology is “for example, setting valued goals, imaging one’s best possible self, using signature strengths, savoring past or present pleasures, finding flow, being grateful for positive experiences, developing optimism, strengthening relationships, practicing kindness, developing grit, being courageous, engaging in post-traumatic growth, and practicing forgiveness (Parks &Layous, 2016; Parks & Schueller, 2014)” [Carr et al (2020) p.749]

[6] Lots of research to evidence this. See for example a study mapping quality of life in relation to internet usage across 4 Chinese cities. “Contrary to our expectation… Internet use for interpersonal communication cannot predict people’s quality of life, while face-to-face interaction with friends and family members can. The result was the same across the four Chinese cities.” [Lee et al (2010) p.383]

[7] I was diagnosed with dyslexia whilst a postgraduate student at Chelsea in 2011. This has been very helpful in terms of understanding how I can rapidly process visual information but find processing oral information difficult. I also resonate with the following: “dyslexic students feel overwhelmed by perceived ‘big’ tasks. They tend to see the magnitude of the whole project…” [Hudson (2024) p.36]

[8] See Lawrance, E.L. et al. (2022) ‘Psychological responses, mental health, and sense of agency for the dual challenges of climate change and the covid-19 pandemic in young people in the UK: An online survey study’

IP Unit: Race – Challenging the Room of Silence

It’s difficult to write anything meaningful about race as a white academic in a position of leadership in Higher Education, let alone in a mere 500 words. In attempting to do so, what follows is part of a personal commitment towards allyship and a wish to be held accountable to the on-going responsibility to continue to educate myself. I do this as a human being, and to best serve all the global majority [1] students [after Campbell-Stevens (2020)] that are on the 2nd Year of the BA Fine Art at Chelsea.

In the “The Room of Silence,” a short documentary about race, identity and marginalization at the Rhode Island School of Design, RSID alumni Eloise Sherrid uses students’ firsthand testimonials to expose what it feels like to be on the receiving end of white privilege in a familiar art school format; the crit. In the video, students talk through common experiences of being met with a ‘room of silence’ in response to works about race or cultural identity. As one of them elucidates “if no one wants to say anything how are we going to get any feedback?” And another, “I need you to say something about this, otherwise how am I supposed to learn?” The video illuminates how white students’ and academics’ lack of racial and cultural literacy means that often global majority students’ work is met with silence. Students repeatedly share about their experiences of not receiving critical feedback, even when are asking for it, and how damaging this was.

This is not an experience confined to US design students. One of CSM’s 2024 Changemakers Hugette Tchiapi outlines her experiences of exactly the same situation whilst studying Fashion. “Imagine the scenario. You are a Black fashion student developing an assessed project that has specific roots in your culture or ancestry. As your tutorials progress, it becomes clear that your assigned tutor lacks the foundational knowledge to be able to deliver clear, meaningful feedback on your project. Meanwhile, your peers are given numerous references from their feedback sessions. They move forward with multiple conceptual frameworks and ideas that they can use to strengthen their project. Your tutorial feedback notes are filled with gaps.”

Simply, tutor and peers’ lack of cultural and racial literacy damage the learning environment and outcomes for Global Majority students. Hugette has used her experiences to devise Fashion FeedBlack, a tool for designing inclusive crits [2].

According to the Ethnic Representation Index [Mba et al (2023)], UAL has 30.9% BAME students (sector-wide terminology) and an awarding gap of 10.9%. It is clear there is much to do. Rethinking crits so they are more racially and culturally literate is one place to start.

Action:

Develop a Fine Art inclusive crit pedagogy focusing on asking questions rather than making assumptions.

Prioritise my own ongoing education in areas of cultural or racial ignorance.

546 words

References:

Black Artists and Designers (BAAD) and Sherrid, Eloise, “The Room of Silence” (2016). Racial Justice. 18.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/archives_activism_racialjustice/18

Channel 4 Entertainment. (2020, June 30). Heartbreaking moment when kids learn about white privilege | the school that tried to end racism [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg

Campbell-Stephens, R. (2020). Global Majority; Decolonising the Language and Reframing the Conversation about Race. [online] Available at: https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/-/media/files/schools/school-of-education/final-leeds-beckett-1102-global-majority.pdf.

Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Mba, D., Lloyd-Bardsley, C., Weigel, A. and Longville, S. (n.d.). Ethnic Representation Index 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/410212/ERI-Ethnic-Representation-Index-2023-PDF-1.2MB.pdf. Access the ERI 2023 data here: https://public.tableau.com/views/ERI2023Published/ERIDashboard?:language=en-US&:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link&publish=yes&%3AshowVizHome=no#1

TEDx Talks. (2023, March 2). Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right | Asif Sadiq | TEDxCroydon [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw

Tchiapi, Hugette (2024) in CSM Changemakers Publication https://learnteachcsm.myblog.arts.ac.uk/files/2024/07/CSM-Changemakers-2024-Publication-online.pdf

The Telegraph. (2022, August 5). Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU

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[1] “Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called to think of themselves as belonging to the global majority. It refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’. Globally, these groups currently represent approximately eighty per cent (80%) of the world’s population” p.1 Rosemary Campbell-Stevens (2020) see Bibliography for full citation.

[2] See https://learnteachcsm.myblog.arts.ac.uk/files/2024/07/CSM-Changemakers-2024-Publication-online.pdf

Blog post 2 : Why is an Intersectional Feminist approach important in my role?

Over 80% of my Y2 cohort are female or identify as women. Many are trying to interrogate ideas in their practices that have a direct correlation to areas of feminist work; gender, identity, care, childhood, labour and community. Still, the majority would not describe themselves as feminist. They largely haven’t received any kind of feminist teaching and mostly lack a basic understanding of feminist thinking.

In the Representation of Women Artists in the UK (2021) several illuminating statistics are uncovered. The report details how, despite record numbers of women studying Art & Design at GCSE, A Level and undergraduate (much higher than the numbers of men, at 65%, 74% and 66%) there persist systemic gender inequalities within the art world. This is carefully evidenced. For example;

In 2021 just 36% of the artworks acquired by Tate were by women artists.

In 2021 only four new works entered the collection of the National Gallery, there was not a single work by a woman artist, a Black and Brown artist or a disabled artist

In 2021 majority of artists represented by London’s major commercial galleries are still men, at 67% – an increase of 2% from the previous year.

Over 95% of my students in Y2 are under the age of 25. 2024 research from Kings College London shows Gen Z men and women are the most divided on gender equality, compared to older generations. Whilst it is often assumed that the feminist project is somehow complete, these reports paint a regressive picture of widening gender inequality in attitudes, behaviour and in career progression. Shockingly, in 2024 police declared violence against women and girls (VAWG) a ‘national emergency’ in England and Wales. Recorded cases of VAWG increased by 37% between 2018 and 2023, running at 3,000 offences a day [Home Office (2024)] .

Against this backdrop and a socio-political imperative to re-centre feminist thinking, much feminist thought is directly relevant to fine art pedagogy in the way it rethinks the frame, opens alternative narratives and creates space to hold minioritised voices. Intersectionality is a central idea in this context, a term first coined by Kimberle Crenshaw [Crenshaw (1989)].  Intersectionality applies to class and sexuality, disability, and all the other Equality Strands and is a way of conceptualising and understanding the interlocking way different types of discrimination affect an individual. It’s a very helpful concept in helping me understand some of the systemic challenges facing some of my students.

These discussions are particularly relevant within a neo-liberal formulation of Higher Education. As Motta (2013) summarises,

“Neoliberal marketization in Higher Education marks an intensification, not a break, with the epistemological logics of patriarchal colonial capitalism… The ideal type neoliberal subject is grounded in individualization, infinite flexibility, precarious commitments, orientated toward survivalist competition and personally profitable exchanges. This produces a space of hierarchy, competition and individualism through the eradication of spaces of solidarity, care and community.” [ibid p.

I want to intentionally create spaces of solidarity and community amongst my student cohort and this is precisely why collective working, pedagogies of care and intersectional feminist thinking is a key part of my ethos in my role as 2nd Year Leader.

524 words

References:

Bonham-Carter, C. (2021). Representation of Women Artists in the UK During 2021. [online] Available at: https://freelandsfoundation.imgix.net/documents/Representation-of-Women-Artists-in-the-UK-Research-in-2021.pdf. [17 Mar 2025]

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: a Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, [online] 1989(1), pp.139–167. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf. [17 Mar 2025]

Home Office (2024). Violence against women and girls national statement of expectations (accessible). Department of Health. [online] 30 Apr. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/violence-against-women-and-girls-national-statement-of-expectations-and-commissioning-toolkit/violence-against-women-and-girls-national-statement-of-expectations-accessible. [17 Mar 2025]

Kings College London (2025). Gen Z men and women most divided on gender equality, global study shows. [online] King’s College London. Available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/gen-z-men-and-women-most-divided-on-gender-equality-global-study-shows [17 Mar 2025]

Motta, S (2013) ‘Pedagogies of Possibility: In, against and beyond the Imperial Patriarchal Subjectivities of Higher Education’ in Cowden, S, & Singh, G 2013, Acts of Knowing : Critical Pedagogy in, Against and Beyond the University, Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, New York. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [16 March 2025].