Mental Health: Mind Matters

Exhibition on view at the Bullock Texas State History Museum

May 7, 2022 – July 31, 2022

This summer, the Bullock Museum is pleased to host a timely exhibition that will help us better understand mental health.

Planned prior to the global pandemic that began in 2020, Mental Health: Mind Matters, a traveling exhibition from the Science Museum of Minnesota, uses immersive experiences and multimedia activities to create a safe space for important conversations about mental illnesses.

Through the exhibition, the Bullock Museum hopes to raise awareness, build empathy, break stigma, and provide tools for greater understanding.

Mind Matters: Mental Health will be on view at the Bullock Museum through July 31, 2022

Mental illness can happen to anyone. One in five adult Texans will experience a mental health concern at some point this year. Over 20 percent of children ages 9 to 17 have a diagnosed mental illness, and in December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory to highlight an urgent need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis as the pandemic continued. Today, it is more important than ever to be informed and talk honestly and openly about mental illness, and how to care for those experiencing it.

Worry Shredder. Worries are a part of your life but they should not stress you too much. It is important to recognize the worries and thoughts that make you feel depressed and anxious. Visitors are encouraged to write down their worries and then shred them in the worry shredder.

Good mental health is an important aspect of everyone’s life. Like physical illness, mental illness is not a ‘choice’ or a personal flaw but a medical condition that requires care. Despite often being portrayed as dangerous, unpredictable, and scary, with support and treatment those living with mental health challenges can live productive, fulfilling, and happy lives.

Take a Peek. People with mental illnesses have been treated inhumanely and endured grueling experimental treatments for centuries. Peek into toy theater sets and listen to audio recordings of patients, doctors, and others describing what life was like for patients with mental illnesses at different points in history, and around the world.

Through roleplaying stations, testimonials, quizzes, historical scenarios and more, this exhibition helps build empathy, respect, and acceptance. Designed to dispel myths and misunderstandings, our hope is that families, institutions, and communities form a better understanding and increase their support and assistance for those affected.

Mind Matters offers an opportunity to start discussions around this important health topic in a relatable and encouraging way. Within this trilingual exhibition, (English, Spanish and French), and accompanying programming throughout its run, visitors explore how mental illness has been treated in the past, put themselves in the shoes of people living with mental illness, and use full body activities to learn about healthy recognition and expression of emotions. A family guide is available in the exhibition to help families explore the topics with their children.

Touch screens embedded in a wall let visitors explore the symptoms, causes and treatments of some common mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, PTSD, and schizophrenia, autism, ADHD and substance use disorder.

Our exhibitions provide gathering places where cross-generational discussion about history and its relationship to contemporary issues can happen in a safe atmosphere. Often, people experiencing the onset of a mental health illness feel completely alone — Mind Matters offers a resource center that shares information about the different types of mental health professionals who provide treatment, local and national resources that offer mental health education and advocacy, and suggests ways to find immediate help. Resources will also be available to help visitors be champions for mental health.

This post is contributed by Kathryn Siefker, Curator, at the Bullock Texas State History Museum.

Support for the Bullock Museum’s exhibitions and education programs is provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.

Mental Health: Mind Matters was produced for North America by the Science Museum of Minnesota in collaboration with Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre.

Sponsored by The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Hall Fund.