As the leading hub for science learning in the Carolinas, Discovery Place Science is committed to providing education and a safe space to hold important conversations that impact people on both a personal level and as a community.

As we enter year three of the pandemic, Discovery Place wants to know how people in our community are doing. On January 29, 2022, the Museum opened Mental Health: MIND MATTERS, a special exhibition presented by Atrium Health in Charlotte that gives visitors a memorable, impactful experience exploring the science of mental health.

Don’t miss these five must-do experiences inside the Mental Health: MIND MATTERS special exhibition:

1. Use your body to act out emotions. Recognizing and expressing emotions lays the foundation for our interactions with one another. However, some people living with certain mental illnesses such as depression find it hard to express their emotions, or to read the cues and understand the emotions of others.

We often think about communicating our emotions with words and facial expressions. But in fact, we use our whole body to express our emotions with posture and gestures. Exaggerating our body language can make the emotional message stronger and more visible.

2. Let go of your worries and woes. Worrying is a normal part of life, but too much worry can wear on our mental and physical health. It’s important to confront anxieties or concerns, and sometimes just writing worries down makes them feel more manageable.

Think about some of the worries or problems in your life right now. Write them down one by one and then feed them into our worry shredder. It can feel good to watch our worries get shredded away.

3. Face the unknows of the forest. Facing difficult or frightening things is not an easy task. Often, we reject our fears or push them out of our minds. The ability to confront difficult situations and find proper solutions is an important part of mental health.

Under the pale glow of the moon, the forest seems filled with strange shapes and sounds. Will you close your eyes or face the frightening characters?


4. Play the emotion-recognition game. As we previously shared, we communicate our emotions through words, gestures and facial expressions. Understanding another person’s emotional state is critical to communication.
This activity challenges people to interpret another person’s emotions, or to express their own, with most of the cues hidden. How well do you think you will do?


5. Make talking about mental illness OK. Mental health touches our lives every day and is a vital part of our personal and community well-being. It is important that we continue to raise mental health awareness, provide learning opportunities and offer safe spaces for important conversations.

#MakeItOK is an invitation to talk more about mental illness and encourage those in need to seek treatment. Share your selfies and photos in front of the #MakeItOK wall.
Mental Health: MIND MATTERS runs through April 10, 2022 and is free with admission to Discovery Place Science. Get tickets at bit.ly/DPMindMatters.

Mental Health: MIND MATTERS was produced by the Science Museum of Minnesota with Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre and their partners, Ciência Viva and Cité de Sciences & L’industrie. It is presented by Atrium Health in Charlotte.