According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the mental health movement in the workplace has been growing for several years. Beginning in 2022, AIC’s Health and Safety (H&S) Network has been working to better understand the mental stresses conservators face in the workplace and developing resources that meet the needs of the community. In 2024, the H&S Network conducted an AIC membership-wide survey and two conservator-based mental health focus groups moderated by Dr. Stephanie Arel, who has conducted research on trauma in memorial museums around the world. Now this program is being expanded to those who work in the wider cultural heritage sector starting with the C2C Care Community and its vibrant collective of small and mid-sized institutions.

For this webinar panelists will present the findings on mental health in the field of conservation and the wider museum worker community. An abbreviated version of the H&S Network mental health survey will be sent out to registered participants and the results compared to the conservation results during the webinar. A goal of the webinar is to use participant feedback to update the long form survey so that it may be tailored for and sent to those who work in the cultural heritage sector.

Presenters
Dr. Stephanie N. Arel, Fordham University

Stephanie Black, Conservator, Anchorage Museums/Chair, AIC Health & Safety Network

Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh, Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI), Associate Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies, Public Scholar of Collections and Community Curation, Adjunct Associate Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies

Dr. Mark Wilson, Clinical Assistant Professor, Occupational and Environmental Health, Sciences | Biomedical Health Sciences, Purdue University

The statements and opinions expressed by panelists, hosts, attendees, or other participants of this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of, nor are endorsed by, the American Alliance of Museums.