A team of faculty and students affiliated with Pitt Public Health’s Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS) has received new funding through the Pitt Un-Challenge (PUnCh) grant to expand an innovative, arts-based mental health initiative that connects students to community arts experiences as a pathway to healing and resilience.
The initiative, CAPTURE (Community Arts Partnerships for University-based Therapeutic Relief and Expression), is being led by BCHS faculty members Sara Baumann and Jessica Burke, alongside student collaborators Monica Merante (PhD student), Lindsey Palmer (MPH student), and Isabella Wegner (Pitt Dietrich alum). The initiative, which grew out of Wegner’s PUBHLT 0401: Can Art Heal? undergraduate class project, offers a creative approach to student mental health that aims to transform stress into art, connection and healing.
CAPTURE links students to community-based arts experiences rather than relying solely on clinical care. These experiences range from guided photography in botanical gardens to collaborative creative practice. By connecting students to arts and cultural resources, CAPTURE supports well-being through creativity, community engagement and accessible opportunities for expression.
The Pitt PUnCh funding, provided by the Pitt Clinical and Translational Science Institute to support ideas that don’t fit traditional molds, will support an expanded trial of the intervention focused on the combined benefits of guided photography and nature, in partnership with Phipps Conservatory located in next to the Pitt Oakland campus. The project will also reimagine University health spaces and community arts resources as hubs of both creativity and care, helping to embed mental health support into everyday environments.
This initiative exemplifies how public health can innovate beyond traditional clinical models by addressing mental health through community engagement and creative expression. By leveraging social prescribing and arts-based interventions, CAPTURE promotes holistic well-being, reduces barriers to care, and fosters resilience, which are critical priorities for population health. By the end of the project period, the team aims to have a refined, scalable, and culturally adaptable model that integrates mental health support into daily settings, advances equity and reduces reliance on overburdened clinical systems.
-Joe Barreto