Psychologists along with other mental health professionals play a significant role in the prevention and treatment of mental ill health. One of the ongoing challenges faced in this field is communicating important mental health concepts to individuals and wider community
Mental ill health is the leading cause of disability worldwide.
Mental ill health is the leading cause of disability worldwide. 
. It was this challenge that led Dr Gareth Furber to contact Match Studio to discuss how psychologists could collaborate with emerging designers to create engaging and informative mental health education materials for the public.
Now in its fifth year, the Visualising Mental Health project facilitated by Match Studio and led by academic Dr Doreen Donovan, UniSA’s third year Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) students undertake a 12-week co-design project to develop concepts and design prototypes of visual communication tools that can assist clinical psychologists to communicate with clients and the public.
The student design teams are briefed on selected mental health concepts by Dr Gareth Furber. The briefings provide the vital background information needed for the design students to develop design prototypes of visual communication tools that can include games, books, apps; communication campaigns, event and merchandise; books; reflective journals; products that stimulate conversations and nurture/wellbeing packs. This list just a small selection of past project outcomes.
The outcomes of this project were showcased at an exhibition to coincide with World Mental Health Day.
The winners in 2020 were Oliver White, Breeze Millard, Christopher Filosi and Abdurrahman Mohammadi for their idea, Universal Stories (US) a card game designed to combat social isolation and loneliness in migrant populations. The game targets different areas of social isolation, from locational knowledge to slang and the art of small talk.
The team focused on the Loneliness/Social Isolation topic.
