SMILE (Send Me Inspiring Loving Energy) research project

The SMILE (Send Me Inspiring Loving Energy) project is a research-led photography, poetry and immersive art project which explores the impact of smiling on the overall wellbeing of young black boys and men aged 13-25. I will explore the connection between a lack of wellbeing to the rising numbers of youth violence and murders in the UK over the past year. 

I will empower these young people with the findings from my research by presenting tangible coping strategies to manage mental health and to calm violent feelings which I believe arise because of a lack of adequate mental health provision for this demographic. 

This project will help young black men and boys feel that research and data could be useful to them in their everyday lives. The need for this project has been reinforced through an overwhelming expression of interest in the study from this community.