Celebrating Change Minds: A Journey of Heritage and Wellbeing
On 9 December 2025, Carmarthenshire Archives and West Wales Action for Mental Health marked a special milestone with a celebratory event for the successful completion of a second Change Minds Project. This achievement was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Welsh Government’s Regional Integration Fund (RIF), which enabled the delivery of an eight-week programme that truly made a difference.
Change Minds is a unique initiative that brings together mental health support and heritage engagement. It offers participants the opportunity to explore historical archives while reflecting on their own personal stories. Over eight weeks, participants delved into local asylum records, uncovered fascinating insights into Carmarthenshire’s past, and shared their experiences in a safe, supportive environment.
One participant described the experience as “like opening a window into the past and finding a piece of myself there.” Another reflected, “I never imagined old documents could help me feel so connected—not just to history, but to people today.”
The group uncovered stories of resilience and community from over 100 years ago, sparking conversations about how those themes still resonate. “Reading about someone who faced hardship in the 1920s made me feel less alone,” said one attendee. “It reminded me that struggles are part of life but so is hope.”
The recent event celebrated not only these personal achievements but also the collaborative effort that made it all possible. Poetry and heartfelt speeches filled the room as participants shared what the project meant to them. “This wasn’t just about historical research,” one participant summed up. “It was about finding strength in stories—both theirs and ours.”
Prose and artwork follows below from one of the project participants. This work contains references to mental illness, including self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.
Almost one hundred years apart but sharing the same name, Charlotte Anne on the left is from 1926 and has brown eyes, whilst Charlotte Anne on the right is from 2025, with blue eyes.
Charlotte Anne 1926: my head is a map, my mind strung in such a way I sometimes struggle to think clearly. Here is my road, and here is my home, the one just up from the bridge of my nose. In one hundred years you shall walk it for me, look for where I once stood, once trod, but you shall find that most of the houses I knew so well have gone. Only a few will remain, and those left are braced on the edge of a car park. But still you can see the Tywi, how it boils and churns with the tide, upstream, downstream, and how it can spew over and flow along the road, make a lake at my door.
Once I tried to drown myself.
How else will life change for you? The coracles and fish will be fewer, old traditions stagnating in pools of progress. I worked at the woollen factory, just along from where the market stood, now not far from your fever-dream Debenhams. Not all progress will work.
Another time I tried to hang myself.
You see, the Devil came to me one night, told me to squeeze my legs together and injured me inside, and now my brain is the shape of St David’s Hospital. I am number 6005. They examine me, tell me there is nothing abnormal about my respiratory system, and my circulatory system is regular and clear. They say my tongue is clean and I have few septic teeth. But they note I am uneasy with my manners, and I pick with my fingers and plait and replait my hair. F2 Ward. Regarded as Epileptic, Suicidal, Dangerous, Destructive. Delusional insanity, they say.
Do they believe me when I tell them I will never get better?
Charlotte Anne 2025: my head is a map too, my mind strung with the pathways I choose to follow. These are the ones which give me joy, the ones which help me breathe deeply and close my eyes slowly when I tilt my face to the light. We cannot live without the sun, us living things.
Verbena blooms my brain. I have chosen it because the flower head lasts such a long time, feeds pollinators and, despite its long thin stems and small tight leaves, it is strong and can withstand the storms. If I could, I’d peel back time and hand you a purple cluster. They are not just flowers, you see. They are my friends and family, the people I know, the communities I am a part of, and they hold me.
My throat is mulched with leaves – lime, sycamore and hazel. Each year they fall, but I believe they do not die. They curl up, cwtch in, and provide energy for the following year. I need to tell you I knew the devil once too, and so, if I could, I’d gift you these leaves as protection.
My body is mapped with roots, and, if they were to examine me, they would find an entanglement of threaded mycelial hyphae. This is what connects me to everything. All of my systems are joined with nature. It protects me, feeds me, uplifts me. St David’s Hospital held you, helped you. I know there were good people there. F2 Ward was picture framed by trees, the ones perhaps you could see through your window but were separated from by glass. If I could, I’d gift you a tree, and sunlight, and a basket of pathways you could choose to follow.
Maybe then you would believe that you could get better.
Prose and artwork by Lottie, Change Minds Project Participant,
Carmarthenshire Archives
Carmarthenshire Archives is proud of this transformative work and looks forward to continuing its mission of connecting people, history, and wellbeing in the future.
You can search the collections and follow the work of Carmarthenshire Archives here: https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/council-services/libraries-archives/carmarthenshire-archives/