First Art Kit by Boo Paterson is a quirky and captivating approach to caring for your mental health. The book, which has been designed to have the feel of a retro first aid kit, offers 25 papercraft projects created to calm the mind.
Artist, writer and creative director Boo Paterson has added another string to her bow – art nurse – with the release of her latest book First Art Kit. Dundee-born Boo is passionate and refreshingly frank in her quest to improve the mental health of the nation.
“I came up with the idea in 2017,” she explains, “I suffer from severe depression and I was having another black dog episode. After I have depression for a few weeks I kind of get bored of it, and I thought ‘if only there was a first aid kit for your brain.'”
This led to her consider the fact that she has had 20 odd years of therapy to fall back on and how she could use the skills that has taught her to create a toolkit for others struggling with anxiety and depression.
Boo started writing the text for First Art Kit in 2019 and 2020 and then, when lockdown hit; “I had to create the little paper crafts and illustrations to go with the copy. It was reminding me to do the work and for the first six months it was a really good distraction.”
Perfect timing
“People had already started talking about the mental health impact of the pandemic – it was such a prescient book to come out of this time.” For Boo, like many people, the NHS was no longer able to offer her therapy during lockdown. “There are no mental health services to speak of,” she says, “so I thought this maybe could help all the people who just aren’t sleeping well or have anxiety.”
She feels that encouraging us to practise art and crafting can really benefit our mental health; “because – and I didn’t know this when I was younger – they induce a flow state and allow total relaxation of your brain. These projects give you mastery of something, even if you are just messing about it doesn’t matter. The object is not to have a masterpiece, the idea is to concentrate on doing something very absorbing. Just enjoy making the things.”
In fact, Boo has created these papercrafts specifically so that they can be achieved by people who are accomplished crafters or who have absolutely no art skills: “you just need to follow the instructions.” When I mention the fact that many people are put off the idea of creative pastimes because at some stage they were told that they are ‘bad at art’ she can’t hide her frustration: “As the Art Nurse I confront all those myths. You are not bad at art, art is enjoyable and it’s stress reducing and also it has so many outlets in today’s world,” she insists.
“When I thought of people using First Art Kit, I thought of them looking up their problem and solving it as a very tactical thing or as being given as a gift as a kind of a joke. We have all got elements of each of the problems I cover, or most of them,” says Boo.
“There are times in our lives when we find it difficult to ask for help or we feel shame. It’s maybe good to do each one in turn to remind yourself that’s it there if you need it.”
Most of the equipment needed to make the papercrafts is things that you would be likely to have to hand at home. “For some, you might have to go and find some gold paper – for example for the horn of the gramophone or you could just go nuts. The instructions are just my suggestions – you can follow them to the rule or use them as a loose guide.
“With the last book I would get people sending me a joyful thing they had created when been so absorbed that they went completely over the top,” she enthuses.
“The advice in First Art Kit is properly researched – the latest ways of dealing with things,” says Boo, “Apart from the illustrations – I dreamed those up! – these are genuine methods.” Each project is presented in three sections. “First steps tells you a bit of the background of why you might be feeling in a certain way. Then there is the First Art Kit Remedy and the Method. “It’s very methodical and all very plain speaking. There are no big psychology terms so that even the most inexperienced person would have access to it. I didn’t want there any barriers.”
As for her own mental health journey, Boo is in a good place right now, having added transcendental meditation to her toolkit. “I haven’t been out of the house to check but I feel like my brain has changed,” she jokes, with an easy humour that belies the challenges she has faced personally and is a great endorsement of her approach to mental health.
“Now I just think even if I can help even one person its worth it because it might put someone on the right track. They might pick up the book and just enjoy making the things. It’s not expensive and a lot of people couldn’t afford to go to a shrink. Some people have no handle at all on why they behave they way they do and at least this gives a bit of background and suggestions on how to deal with things.
When I thought of people using it I thought of people looking up their problem and solving that problem as a very tactical things or as being given as a gift as a kind of a joke we have all got elements of each of the problems or most of them.”
First Art Kit by Boo Paterson is available now, £14.99.
