Independent (Catherine Pitt)

I am passionate about mental health and wellbeing and working in contexts and with populations who experience high stigmatisation around this issue. I am particularly interested in the role of the arts in supporting overall wellbeing, having directly experienced the therapeutic and transformative impact in my own personal life. I am from the UK, was born and brought up in Luxembourg and have been living off and on in Dakar, Senegal for the last 10 years which is where I am currently based. During this time in Senegal I founded and ran a yoga studio in Dakar (2012-2016) with a yoga outreach programme for vulnerable women and girls, including at a women's prison. I have trained as an Expressive Arts Therapy Facilitator and Transformative Coach and since 2019 have worked on projects with 'key populations' in Senegal offering group and one-on-one workshops using therapeutics arts-based approaches. I also offer ongoing support to the Atelier d'EXpression Artistique (arts therapy workshop) at the psychiatric clinic in Dakar, securing funding to host an exhibition in 2022 of paintings created by patients from the clinic during the Biennale contemporary arts festival. Alongside this, I have a Masters in International Development with 15 years experience working in the humanitarian sector on programme development, donor relations and communications for projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. I also worked for 5 years as a Strategic Adviser for Amplify Change, a fund awarding grants for small-medium civil society organisations working on sexual and reproductive health. I am currently supporting an NGO, Tostan, headquartered in Senegal to organise The Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès in collaboration with The Wellbeing Project which seeks to catalyse a movement of inner wellbeing for social change makers. I am a strong believer in the intersection between personal and societal wellbeing, and the fundamental human need for connection and to hold space for each other as we travel through this journey of life. I would love to learn more about the growing funding landscape for practical innovative work on mental health, and explore how I can become more involved with others in this field both bringing both my experience from a funding and grant-giving angle, as well as a practitioner.