Rachel Mackay

Rachel is the Manager of Historic Royal Palaces Kew, looking after Kew Palace, the Great Pagoda, the Royal Kitchens and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage.

She is also the creator of The Recovery Room, a website which provides support and research to help museums and heritage organisations recover and rebuild after the pandemic.

MuseumNext Museums, Health & Wellbeing Summit
Monday, 31 January 2022

Supporting Mental Wellbeing at Kew Palace

In 2021, Kew Palace staged George III: The Mind Behind the Myth, an exhibition focussed on history’s most famous psychiatric patient. Community groups and lenders contributed to the show, creating a powerful exploration of mental ill health at a time when the UK is undergoing a mental health crisis. Visitor Hosts were trained through a partnership with CALM and a new model for supporting staff with challenging content was developed and piloted. This work resulted in powerful visitor experiences and a more open conversation with visitors, and the model can be easily adapted to other areas of museum work.

Find the full schedule here