The coronavirus has crippled mental health worldwide. Searches for the term “stress” have increased significantly in India since the country imposed a nationwide lockdown. Six in 10 Indians have reported their mental health has suffered as a result of Covid-19.

Britons’ mental health has worsened by around 8% according to a new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a UK think tank.

In the United States, record unemployment levels and an out-of-control rise in the number of coronavirus cases has resulted in an eight-fold increase in mental health issues, according to one San Diego State University study.

The sheer scale of the mental health impact as we move out of the worst of the pandemic is going to be far greater than the 450 million people who are estimated to suffer from mental health-related problems worldwide. And while the Covid crisis is showing us that worsening mental health is non-discriminatory, it’s often those sections of society that are the least reached by traditional societal and governmental interventions who are suffering the hardest.

While on the face of it, it may seem like a small-scale, small-impact project, the effects have been huge

Stripped of their work due to being furloughed or fired, and shouldering the burden of additional childcare as schools and other institutions are shuttered to stop the spread of the illness, those in the margins of society are feeling the strain the most. They’re also the least likely to come forward to get support through traditional means.

So projects are springing up around the world to connect with them on a more personal, small-scale level. Sewing Through the Pandemic is the brainchild of Angelika Strohmayer, a lecturer at Northumbria University’s School of Design. Originally designed to help women who have experienced trauma work through their past by crafting, the project adapted when the world locked down by mailing out craft packs of material and seven coloured threads, each representing different emotions or feelings.

It’s an idea with plenty of heritage: Chilean women have often sewn their lived experiences onto hessian sacks while Vietnamese women dealing with the trauma of the war that ravaged their country in the 1960s and 1970s would document the things they saw through patchwork quilts. “Lockdown has exacerbated existing structures of inequity and existing mental and physical health concerns,” said Strohmayer.

The women are encouraged to sew their feelings onto the squares of material, documenting their mental health state as it progresses through the pandemic. The project is an urgent intervention replacing the preponderance of mental health services that have been shuttered as healthcare provision and staffing is redirected towards battling the more present danger of coronavirus from more established support infrastructure. And while on the face of it, it may seem like a small-scale, small-impact project, the effects have been huge.

"What we are hearing, loud and clear, is crafts are helping to contain, heal and overcome trauma"

“It allows us to name our emotions, which is really important in verbalising what’s happening; it’s a little bit of mindfulness activity; and it can build hope for the future because the women know others, including staff, are working on it as well,” said Strohmayer. “It builds that connection without physically being able to meet.”

Those who have used the project have said it’s a useful replacement for services that currently aren’t operating due to the challenges around the coronavirus. “We have always known that crafts are an engaging activity and people really enjoy doing it, but what we are hearing, loud and clear, crafts are helping to contain, heal and overcome trauma,” said Laura McIntyre, head of women’s services at UK charity Changing Lives, which is working with Strohmayer on the project.

It’s an early indication that absent the traditional means of support during extraordinary circumstances, third-party projects outside of government are stepping in – and is perhaps a model for the future to step out the normal thinking of how mental health interventions take place.

“Grassroots projects are incredibly important, but they need to be supported by wider governmental structures. It takes a bottom-up approach, but the system needs to be able to support those approaches, rather than fighting against it as we currently are,” said Strohmayer.

“It’s not just the sewing that’s the good thing; it’s the support that comes along with it," she added. "We need to securely employ support staff and fund the arts. If this pandemic has shown anything, it’s that these artistic and creative activities are popping up all over the place – and they’re important.” — Chris Stokel-Walker

(Picture credit: Amirali Mirhashemian/Unsplash)

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