Mental Health Week 2026: What if we talk about it through the arts?
What if drawing, writing or getting photographed could help us better understand what's going on inside us? This is exactly the question posed by the Mental Health Information Week (SISM), which takes place from 5 to 18 October 2026 throughout France, around a theme: « For our mental health, open up to the arts ».
Creativity is a valuable gateway to mental health. This is the choice we made from the beginning with High Sensitivity Portrait.
What is Mental Health Information Week (MSIS)?
SISM has been in existence for nearly 40 years. Every year, at the same time, associations, hospitals, social structures and individuals organise meetings, workshops, exhibitions or debates around the same common theme throughout France. The objective is simple: to give the general public clear information on mental health, without medical jargon, so that the subject becomes as natural as physical health.
In 2026, the edition invites everyone to explore the link between mental health and artistic creation: painting, music, writing, dance, photography... So many different paths to talk about what is often difficult to put in words.
Why mental health remains a difficult topic
Many people feel tiredness, anxiety, loss of confidence in themselves, or simply the feeling that they no longer understand themselves very well. And yet, talking about it remains complicated. We're afraid of the eyes of others, we can't find the right words, or we think that « It's not that bad. » to avoid disturbing.
This is where the question posed by the SIMS 2026 makes sense: What if, instead of looking for the right words, we go through another language?
Why Arts and Creativity Help Talk About Mental Health
Artistic creation is not restricted to artists. It is a tool accessible to all, and it acts on several levels.
It says what words don't say. An image, a color, a gesture can express a complex emotion more easily than a sentence.
It creates a healthy distance from what you feel. Watching an emotion through a photo, drawing or text makes it possible to observe it, rather than to experience it directly.
She invites to look at herself without judgment. The creative process does not need to be « successful » to be useful. What matters is what it reveals and what it allows to feel.
She's making a connection. Sharing a creation, even modest, often opens the discussion more easily than a frontal conversation about its difficulties.
Concrete examples
Writing a newspaper, even a few lines a day, helps put order in your thoughts. Listening to or playing music acts directly on emotions, without going through analysis. Drawing or painting, without aesthetic objective, allows to remove what is difficult to formulate. And portrait photography offers a particular experience: to be seen differently, through someone else's benevolent look.
High Sensitivity Portrait Approach
It is precisely the angle that we chose with High Sensitivity Portrait: using portrait photography in black and white as a simple and accessible tool for working on oneself and emotional well-being.
A session is not intended to produce « a beautiful photo » in the classical sense. It aims to create a moment when the photographed person can land, be watched carefully, and sometimes see himself differently from the image she has herself. Black and white removes distractions from the color and focuses attention on expression, look, presence.
This approach is designed in particular for associations that accompany people in difficulty, in order to offer them an additional tool in their work. We have also developed educational support, « 10 keys to tame your gaze on yourself », to extend this work on a daily basis, far beyond the session itself.
This approach obviously does not replace therapeutic accompaniment: it complements, like a gentle door to the subject of mental health, for those who need a first step before going further.
How to enjoy it, during the week and all year
Mental Health Week, October 5-18, 2026, is a great opportunity to learn: find out about events organized near you, talk with local associations, or just take the time to try a creative practice you had never tested.
But mental health is not limited to one week a year. It is a subject that deserves to be addressed all year round, at its own pace. If the question speaks to you, whether you are an individual, a company or an association, you can contact me at any time to discuss it, without waiting until October.
In summary
SISM 2026 reminds us of one simple thing: we do not have to find the right words to take care of his mental health. A brush, a notebook, a camera can sometimes say much more. It is this conviction that is at the heart of High Sensitivity Portrait, and it is always an open door, at any time of year.
The site of the event, to watch what is near you:
https://www.health-mental weeks.fr/
And the link below, to arrange a phone appointment with me:
