Designing for wellbeing

the main focus in most of the presentations. These stories expressed the
individuals’ struggles on an everyday basis due to the consequences of
their mental disorder, the stigmatisation of mental illness or social isolation.
In the context of psychiatric care, the significance of the students’
stories lies in their power to express loss, hurt or agony and, by extension,
the need for change. And in reworking these stories into the scenarios, the
scenarios themselves became extensions of this voice of agony, in which
the students suddenly played an important role in presenting the story
and the need for change to a wider audience. The stories used were not so
much supporting their designs, as much as their designs only made sense
in light of these stories. Below, I will give two examples to illustrate how
agony can form a perspective and an overall theme that could direct design.
In one of the student presentations 4 the story of the revolving door
played a central role in the design (page 81). These students understood
that in some cases individuals might never fully recover from mental
illness. As one of the students says, “One has to live with disorder”, thereby
recognising the lifelong struggle that comes with mental illness. Their
design addresses the observation that some individuals stop preparing
their own food as soon as they move out of the rehabilitation hospital,
despite the fact that during their time there they had practiced these kinds
of skills. During the presentation, one of the students recalls being struck
by a story in which an individual is not able to prepare their own food,
and starts eating a frozen pizza raw. Food, the student says, apart from
providing an account of agony, also offers opportunity for improvement.
Their final design proposes a communal kitchen that encourages cooking.
Furthermore, the scenario illustrates the creation of branded premises
that could be deployed throughout the country.
Just like in the example given at the beginning of this chapter, these
students illustrated what it means for an individual to face mental illness.
4 Ida-Maria Kivelä, Ilmari Mansikkamäki, Lin Pei and Seungho Lee
83 · Designing wellbeing through storytelling