Kim Palchikoff: Mental health exhibit open through Sept. 8

I’ve been to a lot of famous museums in both the U.S. and around the world, from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., founded in 1993 to the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, founded in 1764, established by the famed Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

I love museums, especially the ones that involve doing things, as opposed to just looking at items on a wall. As a kid I loved to crawl through the Exploratorium Tactile Dome in San Francisco in the pitch dark. That museum is dedicated to the world of sense and touch.

While Reno may be more known for its Hot August Nights than for an abundance of museums, these days the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum in Reno boasts a unique international traveling mental health exhibit.

As someone who lives with a mental illness myself, this exhibit gets an A-plus in my book for creativity and interaction, as well as for uniqueness. I would have never thought that I’d find my bipolar disorder diagnosis addressed at a science museum, located next to a full-scale cast of a mighty Allosaurus.

Say hello to the Mental Health: Mind Matters exhibit, a highly engaging – literally speaking – exhibit on mental health that hails from Heureka: The Finnish Science Centre, Finland, where it was created. Its goal is to stimulate important conversations about mental illnesses, to normalize them and to make it OK to talk about mental health. It's also designed to make a point that should be obvious: Mental health is as much about science as aerospace and astronomy.

This exhibit means a lot to me. I’ve lived with bipolar disorder for over three decades. I know how exhausting and repetitive it can get to explain to others just what goes on in my brain. And I know how repetitive – not to mention dismal – conversations about mental health can be.

Since the pandemic, mental health has garnered more public discussion than ever before, usually in the form of media attention and endless town halls. This exhibit marks the first time I’ve ever seen such an engaging means of educating the public in what is usually a topic prone to negative discourse. Too often discussion about mental health consists of data, statistics, and medical terminology, and it often sounds just downright depressing.

No one wakes up in the morning excited about being depressed. As a state, Nevada is constantly being singled out for having the worst mental health in the U.S. Yes, it's a reality, but that discussion gets old.

Now Nevada may finally have found a compelling and engaging way to positively discuss matters of the mind in a hands-on kind of way. The highly digital exhibit has lots of buttons to push, videos to watch and things to listen to.

In one area, a mechanical “worry shredder” provides note paper and pens so exhibitgoers can write their worries down, and then proceed to shred them then and there. The shredder has a glass front, so patrons can literally watch their worries get shredded in real time.

Mini documentary videos are on display throughout the exhibition to help visitors understand what some people who live with mental illnesses experience. The goal of the more than 20 life-size elements is to foster respect, acceptance and reinforce the fact that while mental illnesses are scientifically complex, they are treatable.

I was fascinated by an audio-visual history of mental illness treatment, going back to the days when depressed patients were considered to have “bad blood” and were treated by leeches to suck it out. And yes, it talks about lobotomies and electrical convulsive treatment for severe depression.

My favorite activity is the make-shift dance studio – promoting the concept that dancing, music, and physical activity – is good for mental health. To make the exhibit inclusive, everything comes in English, Spanish and French. Patrons must push a button with their preferred language at each display to start things up.

Overall, it’s a highly unique learning experience that will be at the Discovery Museum through September. My only wish is that the exhibit creators back in Finland would have included some positive video clips showing the well documented history between artists and mental illness, maybe show off some short clips of the late comic actor Robin Williams, known for his bipolar diagnosis, or even Lady Gaga, whose been open about her experiences with depression and anxiety.

The end of the show pays tribute to Reno residents, encouraging them to share their thoughts on mental illness with others, albeit anonymously. Their notes are then inserted into a clear plastic binder for all to read. Some talk about their eating disorders; others describe their life with depression. If I had to put my thoughts down, I would write, “Never, ever, ever, ever give up.”

Kim Palchikoff is a mental health writer and producer for No Stigma Nevada podcast. 

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Mind Matters exhibit

WHEN: Open through Sept. 8

WHERE: Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum, 490 S. Center St., in Reno