Youth Hostel Proposal: Mental Health Awareness Talking Points
In being a part of a Mental Health Awareness workshop run at a local Youth Hostel, I was definitely inspired by the simple strategies that seemed to gently encourage the residents to communicate more openly about issues affecting them and their peers. The "Dare To Share" board game (after a general group discussion designed to increase our compassion and break down the borders in our everyday perceptions between "normal" people i.e. friends and people with mental health issues) was a great way of gradually settling the participants into a discussion that could otherwise scare them away with its serious and potentially disturbing subject matter. The facts are, in this day and age, if you have never suffered from a mental health issue, then you very probably know, have known, or have been in close proximity to someone who has suffered.
The general stigma about Mental Health Issues is far less than it once was but it is still very prevalent in 2014, as well as wholly condemned in some communities that form crucial parts of our cultural fabric in Britain. Obviously our current climate of a constantly regenerative online news media means it is being far more talked about than it once was; this is good in the sense that society's former tactic of pushing it under the rug or not talking about it would definitely factor into the long-term extension of mental health issues that hinge on conditions such as repression, isolation, a lack of communication, guilt and shame. On the other hand, with the increase in discussion comes an equally destructive problem: the problem of trivializing Mental Health Issues. Not only trivializing them by dismissing them as "I've had a bad day" excuses and anxieties taken a step too far in an affluent society, but trivializing them at a further remove of discouraging the efforts of governments, councils and initiatives who could play a pivotal role in providing a broad framework of help that would include life-changing support services.
The more we encourage young people to feel empowered and not alone in deference to their mental health problems, the less these problems might end up defining large parts of their adult lives. This requires people with previous experiences and traumas speaking out, bearing witness and telling their stories of not giving everything up and surrendering in the worst of circumstances. Young people these days can easily Google Depression and end up watching helpful YouTube lectures (such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc) on the matter but, it comes down to the difference between reading up on therapeutic techniques and receiving mindful weekly counselling sessions. It seems to me that actually meeting a person giving a talk/running a workshop on their past issues in the flesh, whether in a one-on-one or group context, is a staggeringly important factor in reaching younger people, especially, for instance, younger people on the verge of asking for help but lacking the confidence.
I have spoken to various people regarding Mental Health discussions along the same line as the session that introduced the "Dare to Share" board game. It is a delicate procedure with no strict right or wrong, and the session would tend to be greatly determined by the group dynamics, the varying moods of the participants and, mainly, the consistency of these sessions (weekly, two-weekly etc) to increase trust and familiarity. Another determining factor would be confidentiality, as you'd like to preferably be able to both share as openly as desired at the same time as you'd like to leave the session feeling comfortable in the knowledge that whatever you shared would remain private with trusted friends, colleagues or fellow residents.
After many conversations and a lot of research I have concluded that one starting point would be to utilise the amount of online "chatter" in the most sensitive way possible. So, as a starting point, we'd present the "title" of the discussion and then open the floor to any comments/contributions. Then we would do an energizer with a twist, introducing some thought provoking topics with a bit of fun involved; the game I participated in during which two people would chatter insistently in your ear while you attempted to hold a conversation with someone sitting opposite you to show the realities of illnesses such as Schizophrenia was a strikingly good example of this. Then would come the main point of the session: a newspaper headline. It would be just as interesting to collect different stories from different newspapers in order to subtly show the bias of a certain newspaper/reading audience as it would be to present a well-rounded article in full. It would also be interesting to briefly analyse the difference in coverage, whether it's the online media versus press and television, or certain websites with political or religious affiliations or independent columnists with relevant personal experiences etc. On a regular basis, you can count on the media providing us with eye-catching topics to discuss and, on slow weeks, there are a slew of famous old cases that are still ripe for discussion. The contribution of the participants would be as broad as possible based on the energy of their feedback on that given day. For instance, I would imagine that depending on the timing, certain headlines would hardly require an introduction and a full hour and a half would pass seamlessly in respectful and rapt discussion. On other occasions, I could envisage a lot of prompts being required, one especially pertinent one being: if you were the friend of this person in trouble/danger/risk, what would you have said? What could you have done? Therefore: what do you think should have been done? Etc.
Below is an example of a recent article from the Metro online:
http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/24/teenager-addicted-to-selfies-had-turned-suicidal-4674475/
So, some of the discussion points at hand would be instantly apparent: the negatives of obsessing over selfies for young people. Mental health issues linked to body-image issues, self-esteem and self-harm. Suicide: as a consequence of online obsession/addiction. Here would be an opportune time to ask residents: if you became aware of a friend of yours suffering from similar problems, how would you approach them? Would it be as easy as cutting off the friend's access to the internet on their phone or would this quick-fix not address some of the deeper-rooted issues? Listening to the opinions of others would cause you to recollect personal experiences you might not have initially thought relevant. This discussion could cover a lot of ground with a specific central anchor of this online article linked above. The AIM of such a session could be something like: Raising awareness about the potential pitfalls of social media; the vulnerability of young people with body issues utilising the internet for affirmation from anonymous comments and the source of self-harm tendencies in a young person's development etc.
Here are a selection of other links and the sort of sessions they could set up:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2506252/Father-56-leapt-death-Humber-Bridge-falsely-accused-abusing-child.html “.Graham Smith, 56, became depressed and killed himself in June this year. Wrongly accused of abusing a girl 20 years ago before police cleared him. After two suicide attempts him jumped from the Humber Bridge in Hull. Coroner recorded a verdict of suicide at his inquest today.” This session could focus on the dangers of false or misleading accusations. With the huge media hype surrounding sexual harassment cases at the BBC in the last year or so, we might enter an age of an excessive amount of accusations for potentially minor or non-existent indiscretions. These sorts of accusations can lead people to take drastic action. Why would such accusations, although harmful to someone's reputation, cause people to completely lose self-esteem and hope if untrue? Does coverage of the Jimmy Saville case, for instance, generally encourage or discourage young and vulnerable people suffering through genuinely harmful abuse, physical or otherwise?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hannah-smith-suicide-teenager-used-2184385 “Hannah kept her use of the site a secret from her big sister, setting up another Facebook account which she used as another way of accessing Ask.fm.” Why do young people need to enter and be active in every new online social circle available like it’s the newest craze they can’t be left out of, to the occasional detriment of their fragile self-esteems? What kind of family dynamic causes someone to seek out affirmation and attention online? What hostile personality types prey on vulnerable young people online in seemingly innocuous ways such as low-key taunting, teasing or bullying?
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/mar/14/truth-about-depression “It is an illness that can affect anyone, and prescriptions for antidepressants are soaring, yet depression is still badly misunderstood. Here, six people talk candidly about how it changed their lives.” Why is there still such a stigma when it comes to openly discussing depression? If this stigma were reduced, to what degree would it open up positive pathways for depressives to feel more comfortable to openly discuss and seek help for their issues? For instance, if your friend were suffering from depression and in shame because of it to the point of not seeking out support, do you think reading this kind of article would help them?
http://www.providencerow.org.uk/blog/why-trust-so-important-mental-health#.Uo9hGGQlFKk “I’m Lesley, the mental health worker at Providence Row. I work with homeless clients who have mental health problems or suspected mental health problems, in order to link them into services where they can get the right treatment and care they need. I advocate for clients and share information with different multi-disciplinary teams to support clients into appropriate accommodation to suit their needs.” This personal column could lead to a discussion very appropriate in the context of setting up safe parameters for a session in which young people would be comfortable to discuss some personal issues: what are your personal conditions for a trusting environment/safe space?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26255533 “An increasing number of under-18s with mental health problems in England are being treated on adult psychiatric wards, it has emerged.” For what reason do you think that mental health facilities for under-18s are so much more successful and better resourced? Is this fair? Why might people over the age of 18 continuing to struggle with mental health problems that began at an early age need even more help, rather than less? If they had been seeing a regular counsellor might the priority be for them to continue seeing someone they’re comfortable with rather than sending them elsewhere when over the age of 18? If you were in a position of authority, what would you do to change this and what policies would you implement?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22035335 “A psychiatrist who treated the man accused of killing 12 people in last July's cinema massacre in Colorado warned police he was dangerous.” Why is an attentive and well qualified therapist important? Why should the opinions of the aforementioned psychiatric professional be taken seriously by those in positions of authority? What sort of familial/school experiences in younger life might lead to aggressive or violent tendencies/fantasies in later adulthood? How could we help people struggling with these issues before it is, so to speak, too late? Does society at large or the school system have a certain amount of responsibility to take after incidents such as these? What does the seemingly endless media hype and coverage of such catastrophes communicate to younger people struggling with such issues? If your friend confided in you that they were having fantasies of taking other lives in cold blood, how would you react and try to repair the situation?
