Anti-Stigma Campaign Mobile Exhibit
Our traveling exhibit is helping to change attitudes about mental health in a city near you
For those who don’t live near one of our permanent exhibits, a portable version is available for display in a variety of community settings. This eight-panel traveling exhibit features the personal stories of 15 individuals affected by mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD, and trauma.
Designed to promote understanding and reduce stigma, the exhibit can be set up in public spaces including schools, workplaces, medical centers, and government buildings. By sharing real-life experiences, the mobile exhibit encourages open conversations about mental health and highlights the importance of support, empathy, and access to care.
Mobile Exhibit Gallery
Featured Stops on the Tour
The exhibit was featured at Baldwin Wallace University’s LaunchNET, highlighting the pressures entrepreneurs face, including burnout, isolation, and anxiety.
At the Center for Innovation & Growth, the display welcomed attendees at a regional event for other funded organizations, inviting them to pause, reflect, and connect with the realities of mental health in entrepreneurial life.
Baldwin Wallace University
Ohio, November 2025
We’re excited that our friends at Roger Williams University are bringing the campus and broader community together through shared stories of mental health.
Displayed in Global Heritage Hall, the 8-panel exhibit features powerful portraits and lived-experience narratives designed to promote empathy and understanding, helping to foster a more supportive, inclusive campus.
Roger Williams University
Rhode Island, February/March 2026
During Mental Health Awareness Month 2023, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) was the first to host to our mobile exhibit.
The collaboration, initiated by Marianne Barthel, director of arts and humanities at DHMC, promoted conversations among their patients, staff, families, and visitors about the impact of mental health.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
New Hampshire, May 2023
Bring Our Exhibit to You
Does your organization, school, or business want to bring our anti-stigma campaign to a location near you?
Find out how you can rent the mobile exhibit.
Massachusetts Traveling Exhibit
Thanks to a generous grant and collaborators throughout the state, the mobile exhibit is making stops at various local spots, including the Natick Mall and Governor Maura Healey’s offices in the Massachusetts State House.
Communities That Have Welcomed Us
Stories have the power to move people. Here are all the spots where this exhibit has done exactly that.
Health Care
Concord Hospital
New Hampshire, 2024
The Deconstructing Stigma team was excited to partner with Concord Hospital in 2024 to not only bring a mobile version of the storytelling exhibit to our friends in New Hampshire, but we were also able to work together to have one of our great volunteers speak to the Concord community about mental health and wellness.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
New Hampshire, May 2023
During Mental Health Awareness Month 2023, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) was the first to host to our mobile exhibit.
The collaboration, initiated by Marianne Barthel, director of arts and humanities at DHMC, promoted conversations among their patients, staff, families, and visitors about the impact of mental health.
Education
Northeastern University
Massachusetts, May 2026
We were proud to bring our mobile exhibit to Northeastern University’s event honoring a wonderful mental health advocate and Deconstructing Stigma participant, the late Kitty Dukakis—whose courage has inspired many others to share their stories and seek help.
Together, community members, practitioners, and leaders reflected on storytelling’s power to reduce stigma and change the mental health conversation.
Salve Regina University
Rhode Island, April 2026
Salve Regina University brought the exhibit to their campus community throughout April, rotating it across a handful of locations—including The Wellnest, the university’s dedicated wellness space for reflection, grounding, and quiet comfort.
The exhibit was also a featured part of their campus-wide Mental Health Fair, bringing real faces and powerful stories of mental health to even more of the community.
Nipmuc Regional High School
Massachusetts, March 2026
Nipmuc Regional High School brought the exhibit into the heart of their community, giving students and staff a chance to connect with real stories of mental health.
The school also hosted a community event where families and a guest speaker gathered around the stories on display. In the classroom, teachers connected the stories to the curriculum, making mental health part of the everyday conversation.
Roger Williams University
Rhode Island, February/March 2026
We’re excited that our friends at Roger Williams University brought the campus and broader community together through shared stories of mental health.
Displayed in Global Heritage Hall, the 8-panel exhibit featured powerful portraits and lived-experience narratives designed to promote empathy and understanding, helping to foster a more supportive, inclusive campus.
Baldwin Wallace University
Ohio, November 2025
The exhibit was featured at Baldwin Wallace University’s LaunchNET, highlighting the pressures entrepreneurs face, including burnout, isolation, and anxiety.
At the Center for Innovation & Growth, the display welcomed attendees at a regional event for other funded organizations, inviting them to pause, reflect, and connect with the realities of mental health in entrepreneurial life.
Rhode Island College
Rhode Island, October 2025
Our powerful public storytelling exhibit appeared at Rhode Island College (RIC), bringing faces and stories of people living with mental health challenges into an everyday space where thousands could see them.
Hosted in partnership with the college’s Counseling Center, each lived experience story invited students and faculty to reflect, connect, and recognize that mental health affects us all.
University of Saint Joseph
Connecticut, Fall 2024
At the University of Saint Joseph, the exhibit was the backdrop to The Reason We Speak event, which fostered dialogue, reduced stigma, and connected students to campus wellness resources.
Miriam Correa, Student Affairs wellness educator, emphasized that the exhibit was an ideal tool to normalize conversations around mental health.
State and Local Government
Lowell City Hall
Massachusetts, January 2026
We are incredibly thankful to the City of Lowell for showcasing the exhibit in City Hall, one of the most visible and meaningful public spaces in the community. Sharing this work in the heart of local government sends a clear and powerful message: Mental health matters in Lowell, and the inspirational stories of our brave volunteers deserve to be seen and shared.
City of Lynn
Massachusetts, August 2025
The team was excited to partner with the City of Lynn’s Public Health Division to bring the exhibit to Lynn City Hall in August 2025, leveraging the exhibit to not only share stories but also draw attention to the many great health resources available to folks in the community.
Massachusetts State House
Massachusetts, May 2025
The Deconstructing Stigma team partnered with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey to bring our award-winning storytelling exhibit to the Massachusetts State House in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month 2025.
Entertainment
Lowell Folk Festival
Massachusetts, July 2025
We were very grateful for an invitation to bring the stories of several brave Massachusetts residents to the Lowell Folk Festival kickoff in July 2025.
Natick Mall
Massachusetts, May 2025
Thanks to the efforts of the Natick Health Department and the generosity of Natick Mall management, the mobile Deconstructing Stigma exhibit was displayed during May and June 2025, allowing shoppers to not only engage with stories of our brave volunteers but also walk away with a guide filled with local mental health resources for families, patients, and caregivers.
Changing Attitudes About Mental Health
We are deeply grateful for collaborations with our mobile exhibit hosts and our storytelling volunteers from around the globe, who have provided us with an opportunity to bring resilient and inspirational stories of people living with psychiatric disorders to diverse locations.
“Stigma is a huge barrier to getting care, especially in my field. So, I decided to tell my story. I figured if I could help out one or two people, it would be worth it,” said Evan, a former member of the military who volunteers to share his story through Deconstructing Stigma.
Although Evan left the military for medical reasons, his desire to help others has never wavered. Today, he is doing exactly that by sharing his story as part of Deconstructing Stigma.
“I joined the military because I wanted to help people. I still want to do that, and I still know that I can.”
Deconstructing Stigma participant Evan
Evan is one of the more than 300 individuals who currently volunteer to share their stories as part of Deconstructing Stigma in hopes of increasing awareness and decreasing the fear and shame that is too often associated with mental health.
The goal of Deconstructing Stigma is to share the individual voices and, by doing so, highlight the commonality that all of us share—mental health affects everyone.
Get Support
As the exhibit moves around, it’s important to connect community members to local and national mental health resources:
