This showcase celebrates the work of the ORIGIN project. Young co-designers and cultural partners who have explored archives and museums across the UK to create stories that support mental wellbeing.
📚✨ Step beyond the archives and discover the untold stories waiting for you.
If you can’t make the opening, don’t worry, the exhibition will be open until Saturday, August 30th at Old Post Hall, Fitzalan Square.
Produced by the Creative Research Assistants at Lab4Living, this exhibition takes you on a journey through the archives to uncover hidden, representative stories for mental health.
Join us for the Beyond the Archives Exhibition Opening Night 🎉
📍 Old Post Hall, Sheffield Hallam University
🗓 Wednesday 27 August
🕔 5PM – 7PM
We’re inviting new Peer Reviewers & Co-Designers (ages 16–24) to get involved in giving feedback on the stories we're working on!
🏛️ Interested in becoming a Peer Reviewer? Sign up using the link in the post!
📚 Head to our website or read the full update here: lab4living.org.uk/news/origin-...
A cover graphic titled "ORIGIN UPDATES" & a prompt inviting the reader to visit the site for the full update.
New updates from the ORIGIN Programme!
Our latest blog post shares exciting updates on story production, co-design workshops, & a behind-the-scenes look at how young people are helping shape the 'digital museum' we've been helping to create over the last eight months.
That's why the ORIGIN Creative Research Team have been working on stories that highlight LGBTQ+ experiences, voices & histories—often overlooked, but never forgotten. Pride is about visibility, but also about listening, learning & making room for stories that need to be told.
A post cover with the inscription "This Pride Month, we're celebrating LGBTQ+ trailblazers and allies in public health and care - past and present - who challenged norms, reimagined systems, and embodied what it means to design for living". It has the colours of the rainbow, representing the pride flag, on the right, with Lab4Living's logo edited on it.
It's Pride Month, & we're taking time to honour LGBTQ+ trailblazers & allies who've made a difference in public health & wellbeing!
At Lab4Living, we believe that care & creativity go hand in hand, & that everyone's story deserves space.
To see the needlework she created whilst in workhouse in person was an emotional experience, truly speaking to the importance of both art and museums.
But the best part of the museum for sure was seeing Lorina Bulwer’s embroidery in person. Lorina was incarnated in a workhouse in the late Victorian era and Sophie and Kerry had been working on a story for the ORIGIN programme about her.
They had a great time hunting the museum for stories, including an exhibition on Blood: Ties and Tensions. There were lots of brilliant artefacts in the museum, like a banner in tribute to the NHS and an X-ray machine used in shoe shops in the 1950s!
On Monday, Lab4Living’s Sophie and Kerry paid the Thackeray Museum Medicine a visit as part of researching stories for the ORIGIN project. 🏛️🩺
Give us feedback through this survey: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/7TBWEF/ #ORIGIN
We want the online museum to be as engaging and representative as possible. You don’t need any prior experience, only your own lived experience and interest in either research, story-telling, arts and culture, museums or narratology for mental health.
WP4 of the ORIGIN Research Project looks at co-designing an online museum as a mental health support for young people.
We would love for you to be a Peer Reviewer and tell us what works well with the stories, what could be improved and what ideas you have to make the stories more impactful, interesting and representative to young people aged 16-25.
Are you UK-based, 16-24 year & are keen on research, story-telling, arts and culture, museums or narratology? 🗃️🏛️
Our Creative Research Assistants were still able to squeeze in a bit of storytelling between breaks & are eager to get back to creating stories as part of #ORIGIN!
Here’s your reminder to take a step back & prioritise a healthy work-life balance!
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week!
After a few busy weeks in the lab, we took a step back to clear our heads & stretch our legs - with our four-legged pals leading the way! 🐾 🐶
It is on throughout the whole of May across Sheffield. The full programme of events can be found at
www.compassionate-sheffield.co.uk/life-loss-and-death-festival
#SLLDF25
From creative workshops to community talks, the festival offers space to explore some of life's most difficult topics with openness and care.
Life, Loss & Death Festival 2025
Throughout May, Compassionate Sheffield is hosting the Life, Loss and Death Festival- a free, citywide programme of events, workshops, and conversations that invite us to reflect on what it means to live and die.
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) (Ref: NIHR204148). Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Any questions, email Sophie and Beth at s.cochrane-powell@shu.ac.uk and elizabeth.hopwood@shu.ac.uk 📧
#ORIGINMentalHealth
At the workshop they shared the ways art can support mental health, story stewardship, & the differences between telling stories from the past and present. A big thank you to the Creative Writing Society for joining the workshop!
Creative Research Assistants Sophie & Kerry ran a brilliant workshop with the Creative Writing Society, sharing their process and mechanics of storytelling for the ORIGIN arts and culture platform earlier this week.
This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) (Ref: NIHR204148). Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
