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A young illustrator has seen her work unveiled on the walls of the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in the latest phase of work to help improve health through exposure to artwork.
Lottie Barnes is Guernsey's Culture Arts & Health Manager - she said there is a lot of evidence to prove the connection between art and positive health outcomes.
"There is huge amounts of evidence," she said. "It can help lower your blood pressure, it's good for your mental health and general wellbeing.
"We're affected differently by how we engage with different colours and subject matter. They've done studies where even being exposed to art work that has a nature theme has a similar impact to actually being in nature."
With this in mind, the latest artwork adorning the walls of the PEH was chosen to reflect the '5 ways to wellbeing' - a recognised set of actions which anyone can do to improve their own wellbeing.
Pictured: An example of Caitlin Robilliard's artwork.
Wanting to showcase the five ways in an eye catching, vibrant, yet calming way, Ms Barnes asked Caitlin Robilliard to come up with some designs.
"We all have a personal taste in art and there is an overarching brief for the artwork in the hospital in bringing the outside inside, and linking it to Guernsey, but this is slightly different because it's particularly vibrant and joyful," said Ms Barnes.
"It's got a different function in that it's around promoting our wellbeing and our health whereas the other artwork is around creating a therapeutic environment," she explained.
Miss Robilliard is a graduate of the University of Brighton where she studied illustration. She works as a print operative alongside her artwork.
Miss Robilliard said she was given a brief to express the 5 Ways to Wellbeing which led to her mapping out ideas of how to represent each one.
"Each of the titles had a couple of suggestions of things that you can try to do to improve your wellbeing. I did a bit of research of what those were and did a lot of sketching of things that I do around those topics that I find help me.
"I like to get everything down on paper, scribble and make notes and go from there."
The five Ways are depicted in individual portraits, which Miss Robilliard said all follow the same illustrative pattern.
"I wanted a cartoon style, it's a lot easier for people to look at - you can imagine anything from it. It's nice to have something like that here."
Miss Robilliard's art work can be seen in the corridor near the Critical Care Unit at the PEH.
The 5 Ways to Wellbeing were developed based on a review of evidence gathered in the UK government’s 2008 Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing.
The aim was to identify five actions that are simple, universal, which anyone can do on an individual level, and for which there is some evidence of an association with wellbeing. They are Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give.
Yvonne Le Page, Guernsey's Public Health Business Manager said: "The 5 Ways to Wellbeing can be thought of as your ‘5 a day’ for mental health.
"The new exhibition in the PEH is an excellent reminder of the 5 simple ways which can help us feel more positive and boost our wellbeing on a daily basis.
"Thank you, Caitlin, for this set of fantastic new images to remind us of this longstanding campaign for staff, patients and visitors to the Hospital."
Further information on the 5 Ways to wellbeing is available HERE.
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