Reflections my Middle Street heritage project placement - Wang Zhuoran

Wang Zhuoran views records from the Nottinghamshire Archives relating to mental healthcare at a project event.

During my studies in the Museum and Heritage Development at Nottingham Trent University, I was fortunate to be able to internship on this project. I hoped participating in this project would help me better learn professional knowledge, understand the overall process of a project, and increase my practical experience. At the same time, the research on mental health by Middle Street Resource Centre deeply attracted me; the Centre is innovative and historic in protecting mental health. I was delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of the Centre and hoped to gain valuable experience in the field of mental health.

So far on my internship I have, distributed evaluation surveys from the Middle Street Resource Centre regarding the mental health exhibition and provided visitors with a simple explanation. We have gained a wealth of feedback materials. By organizing the data and feedback from visitors, I have become more aware of the importance of promoting mental health. At the same time, I also participated in several lectures on mental health, actively listened to the speeches of professors, and had discussions.

Artwork created by members of the Beeston Women’s Group who meet at the Middle Street Resource Centre, as part of project activity.

The internship has helped me improve my overall ability in social interaction. As a foreigner, I actively communicated with visitors in English, dared to express my thoughts and felt a lot of encouragement from strangers. In terms of work, I can now assist in the communication and operation of internal and external activities. Being fully involved in a project has familiarized me with the process of event planning and execution, which can improve my organizational and coordination skills. In terms of learning, in addition to professional course knowledge, it has also given me a different understanding of heritage management. In addition to understanding and protecting, promoting positive attitudes towards heritages is also very important.

Most of all, this project allowed me to gain a profound understanding of mental health. I also found many interesting things during the process of organizing the surveys, such as significant differences in the views and needs of participants of different ages and professional backgrounds towards mental health. I also gradually realized that people of all ages may benefit from some form of psychological support, and many people believe that only those diagnosed by psychiatrists need psychological counselling. This experience made me realize that mental health is related to an individual's inner world, such as interpersonal interaction and collaboration. I am now more convinced that positive mental health is crucial for everyone. I hope to continue learning and growing in this field.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Verusca and Dale for giving me this precious opportunity to participate in this meaningful project. In the future, I will continue to work hard to raise public awareness of mental health.

Thank you very much

Wang Zhuoran