Mental Health Recovery and Quilting: Evaluation of a Grass-Roots Project in a Small, Rural, Australian Christian Church

Abstract

A small project in a rural community church setting was undertaken to promote mental health recovery for one person and to develop a positive conversation about mental health amongst the wider group. Social capital within the group of people was successfully harnessed so that a warm and supportive recovery environment might be fostered within the broader community. The goals of the project were to reduce mental health stigma and to foster recovery. This was achieved as a mental health nurse, quilt maker, and a team of sewers came together to produce a quilt as a tangible expression of care and support for both the quilt recipient and each other. This project, as a case study, demonstrates how a church faith community and mental health care can be combined and yield positive outcomes. This article outlines how the project proceeded and presents the results of a post-project evaluation survey.

I thank The Armidale Church of Christ for allowing their story to be conveyed in this article. I also thank Ann Pryosusilo for her comments on a final draft of this paper. Finally, I thank the quilt recipient for allowing the dissemination of this article, so that it might encourage others to be similarly involved in caring for people with mental health challenges in life.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.