When you write a semi regular blog you almost feel obliged to write a New Year feature.
I've been very torn about what to write, as in 2016 the world appeared to go crazy, in a year that I was instrumental in a campaign which was attempting to empower people to stop going crazy.
The #time4change initiative came out of a blog that I wrote in 2014 http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-support-each-other-in-2015/
10 months later and nothing had changed: http://www.thereviewshub.com/opinion-annemarie-lewis-thomas-taming-the-black-dog/ except that I was finding myself more and more on the periphery of our industry. All of my own doing I should add - nobody likes being called out, least of all me. However Equity, Spotlight, BAPAM, Drama UK. . . the list goes on, were seemingly doing nothing to address the mental health epidemic in our industry. Now in fairness to all these organisations they might have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make changes, but when lives are at stake I don't think that you wait 20 months to reveal your grand plan (which in the end is what happened).
In March, The MTA hosted a Mental Health Conference, and the indifference that I encountered was staggering. At the conference Equity reassured us that things WERE being planned, and we just had to be patient. Sadly that is not my best feature. I'm not a sitter. Be patient as people became patients? I don't think so. I had this plan, which in itself was madness. I tried to 'sell' the idea to someone involved in one of the aforementioned organisations. I wanted the organisation's backing, as I knew that if they got behind it we could roll it out in a week! The vitriol that followed has spurred me on throughout 2016. Yes, I'm antagonistic. Yes, I'm persistent. Yes, I tend to think in bigger pictures. Yes, I'm Welsh and my mother's daughter, and if you think that shooting down my idea with a load of personal insults will stop me, then you have no idea about Welsh heritage at all, especially Welsh women! You say no - we say, "I'll bloody show you"!
Angie Peake donated her time, the #time4change Mental Health charter was written, and off I tweeted. I tweeted constantly for months. I emailed colleagues that I had once said hello to at various shows, conferences etc. . . any link to get me through the door to colleges, theatres, production companies and agencies. I made sure that I had a few big hitters on board before announcing the charter, as I knew that by their very presence some would naturally follow. Fast forward 6 months and 115 organisations have signed the Charter.
I never had a desire to run a mental health campaign, I just found myself compelled to DO something. Empirical evidence was growing which supported my long standing personal belief (as documented here) and yet nobody was 'acting' on it (ironic for our industry don't you think?).
That said, I also never had a desire to open a drama college - and look where that got me?
The campaign has exasperated me - I just don't understand why people won't join. Why can't they make a commitment to send out an email? Why are people reluctant to see that there's an issue here that we're not addressing? The bullshit that I've heard this year; Smaller colleges who could enforce the charter in a heartbeat, claiming that they have no money to implement it? Strange that - as the most that it would cost them would be for a mental health consultant to train their staff, and to speak to their students. So the cost of a consultant for a day? If your margins are that tight maybe you should rethink your business plan! Production companies and agencies that will 'think about it'? What is there to think about? I'm asking you so send out a PDF. That's it? Other than BAPAM none of the major organisations mentioned in the 2nd paragraph have entertained endorsing or joining the initiative. Hurrah for BAPAM I say who, as we all know, put health (mental or physical) first. Were Spotlight or Equity to join us - we could flood the industry in one go. How disappointing that both organisations have been too busy to discuss the possibility with us. As for Drama UK. . . well I had always said that they were a waste of space. Their demise in 2016 will, I believe, spur our sector on to be world class, in both our training AND our pastoral care.
However the campaign has also exhilarated me. It's enabled me to meet like minded people. People that like me, don't give up at the first hurdle. People like Pat O'Toole from Rose Bruford, who was not only 'in' from the get go, but was out to get everybody else to sign up too. Mountview and Arts Ed - surely 2 of the most established drama colleges in the UK signed up to the charter. Honest and frank discussions with Stephen from Mountview and Chris from Arts Ed, email chats with Nick from PPA, have all restored my faith in the industry. All four are people that want to make a difference. There is no competition just differences that make us all unique BUT with a unified fight against mental health that will make us all stronger. I can't wait to work closer with all the colleges that have signed up, as we all begin to learn from each other and to give each other support as we work our way through the maze of mental health issues that we are confronted with on a daily basis. The journalist Susan Elkin who has consistently backed the initiative, writing several blogs/features on it when others didn't want to know. Mark Shenton for kindly giving the campaign 'a soft launch' in one of his blogs. Just people restoring my faith in humanity actually, in a world that was appearing to stop caring about anything other than 'self'.
The campaign is ongoing - but given that I have a college to run, shows to write, and a young family to spend time with, it will now run in the background, ready to be sent out to anybody that's interested. The colleges have all agreed to meet early this year (2017) to work out how our peer supervision is going to work.
A couple of weeks ago I was humbled to learn that The MTA has been short listed for The Stage School of the Year Award, an award that we'd already won once, back in 2012. How brilliant that the citation acknowledged #time4change as something important.
I won't name the person that insulted and patronised me way back at the start of the year, as their name isn't important. However I would like to thank them - as they know who they are. If they hadn't been so bloody rude to me I probably wouldn't have been so dogmatic about making this thing work. I'd like to think that they knew that all the time. A paradoxical intervention if you like.
Here's hoping that #time4change continues to grow in 2017. I'm looking forward to meeting with BAPAM to ensure that we keep joining up the dots - as we are only ever stronger together, and whilst that slogan didn't work for Brexit, I still believe that it works in theatre, which after all, has always been about collaboration, and working together.
Happy New Year
Showing posts with label BAPAM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAPAM. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 January 2017
Saturday, 6 August 2016
Why Wouldn't You? #time4change
We are now on the 4th week of the #time4change #mentalhealthcharter as launched by Mark Shenton in The Stage in July. If this initiative is news to you, please check out an earlier post which sets out how it came about: http://althomasmd.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/its-time4change.html
I remember from last year's fundraising at The MTA for our 'Big Move', as the week's go on, it gets harder and harder to campaign in an innovative way. I feel like I've said it in as many ways as I can now...I'm even boring myself BUT what makes this so different is that when I get that desire to call it a day, I'm reminded of the contents of the emails I was sent prior to the #time4change conference back in March. Emails listing some of the appalling ways that people with clear mental health difficulties, were treated as part of their 'training'. Remembering how one uneducated faculty member can actually, inadvertently do so much damage. Remembering that if Mental Health Education isn't at the core of a college, and therefore supported by the ruling establishment, students in crises can literally be tipped over the edge.
Just this week I was sent an email by somebody that had approached us for help quite some time ago now, someone who had gone through one of the 'top' accredited colleges, one of the colleges that has already told me that 'they're OK'....'their systems work', and yet this person (who of course could have been the exception) literally slipped through the pastoral net, and had found themselves for years out in the mental health wilderness, not knowing where to look for support. They contacted us because I 'go on' about the subject, so they thought that I could have signposted where they should go next. Thankfully in this case we did (signpost), the person was in a place ready to hear, and they're now being successfully treated and their life has changed.
Similarly lots of tweets getting RT'ed' this past week by students (past and present) of 'top' accredited colleges, asking their Principals to consider signing up to the #time4change #mentalhealthcharter. Several of them telling me that this initiative was overdue. Surely this implies that current Mental Health Policies, however well meaning, need improving?
So here's my big question of the week. . .WHY wouldn't you sign the charter? What have you got to lose? For agents and producers it costs them absolutely nothing. That's all they have to do is a file merge and add the Charter to their standard contracts or welcome packs. I mean that is literally 5 mins work (unless you're on my office computer which admittedly means that it would take 30 mins....it is most definitely coming up to a much needed trip to a Genius store). The cost to a theatre is minimal. You just have to locate, in your area, the nearest Mental Health crises intervention team, locate a Buddhist centre providing mindfulness and meditation...plus a couple more things, just to add to your welcome pack. So what's that? Getting an employee to spend 30 mins googling that information (hell...we've even offered to help them out locating these places if they really don't know where to start). The cost to a college? 1 - 2 full days of having a Mental Health Practitioner with you to deliver a speech to your students, explaining WellBeing and giving a Mental Health overview, and to give a training session(s) to your staff. That is it. Other than that it's the same as for everyone else - a file merge to add the #time4change #mentalhealthcharter Fact Sheet to the welcome packs.
Simple isn't it?
Inexpensive isn't it?
So WHY are we having such difficulty selling this simple concept?
This week saw the launch of The Stage, Spotlight UK, BAPAM and Equity initiative ArtsMind, prompted by a survey they did back in 2015 http://www.artsminds.co.uk/ launched by The Stage 5 days ago: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/actor-suicides-prompt-launch-of-artsminds-mental-health-website/ Equity's Louise Granger had mentioned that this web portal would be launching this year back in March at our conference, and it's just brilliant that they've created a one stop 'hub' for performers to access as part of their mental health/well being tool kit. However when I was hashtag checking all things #time4change just a day after the launch of this website (a daily occurrence to ensure that I haven't missed anything important), I decided to hashtag check #artsmind and the amount or rather the lack of hashtags was shocking. This major initiative that had taken months to build, with 4 of our major industry heavy weights behind it, yet it could barely manage a presence for longer than a few days.
Again my question is WHY? WHY wasn't everyone taking care of 'everyone else' and pointing all creatives in that direction, so that webpage could be bookmarked 'in case of emergency'?
Then I was having a conversation with someone the other night who was asking me WHY I thought that people were reluctant to get involved...and it came to me. The stigma/fear is so great surrounding Mental Health, people are reluctant to engage in a process that might make them hold the mirror up to themselves. To engage in our initiative you would need to educate yourself, which might mean reflecting on old behaviours, or indeed there may be an acknowledgement of having a difficulty yourself that has never been addressed. The current consensus appears to be - if you're talking about it, you have it, and if you have it, I don't want to know. The stigma is alive and well. Heads are well and truly buried in the ground on this one.
I have consciously never divulged my own Mental Health status whilst campaigning - yet I received a positively vitriolic attack, presuming that I had started this campaign off due to 'my own issues'. Like I was attempting to create a problem in our industry for the hell of it?
So my big question of week 4 is WHY?
If you already have a robust Mental Health Policy in place you would naturally be fulfilling the terms of the Charter = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
If you're concerned that it'll take too much time - see above. We're talking a maximum of 30 mins out of your life to fulfil the terms of the charter = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
If you're worried about the costs - see above. Colleges would suffer the only financial penalty, but these are clearly costs that can be absorbed by the organisations in a bid to help and educated the young of our industry, and that after all is our job = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
Finally my question is a bit more personal - to those people that I've contacted to attempt to get them interested in the initiative WHY have you ignored the email/tweet (or often both)? WHY wouldn't you just show a basic level of manners and say that for personal reasons you're not interested in this, or you think that it's nonsense or just a simple 'thanks but no thanks'? Every single time you've emailed/tweeted me, I've shown you the courtesy of an answer - WHY aren't you able to do the same. Trust me. . . I'm very busy too, but I always find time for manners.
So.....WHY wouldn't you sign the charter, and spread the word about ArtsMind while you're at it?
If this has made you interested in Charter - info@theMTA.co.uk putting #time4change as the subject.
PS...if you signed I could stop going on about it. Now WHY wouldn't you want that?
I remember from last year's fundraising at The MTA for our 'Big Move', as the week's go on, it gets harder and harder to campaign in an innovative way. I feel like I've said it in as many ways as I can now...I'm even boring myself BUT what makes this so different is that when I get that desire to call it a day, I'm reminded of the contents of the emails I was sent prior to the #time4change conference back in March. Emails listing some of the appalling ways that people with clear mental health difficulties, were treated as part of their 'training'. Remembering how one uneducated faculty member can actually, inadvertently do so much damage. Remembering that if Mental Health Education isn't at the core of a college, and therefore supported by the ruling establishment, students in crises can literally be tipped over the edge.
Just this week I was sent an email by somebody that had approached us for help quite some time ago now, someone who had gone through one of the 'top' accredited colleges, one of the colleges that has already told me that 'they're OK'....'their systems work', and yet this person (who of course could have been the exception) literally slipped through the pastoral net, and had found themselves for years out in the mental health wilderness, not knowing where to look for support. They contacted us because I 'go on' about the subject, so they thought that I could have signposted where they should go next. Thankfully in this case we did (signpost), the person was in a place ready to hear, and they're now being successfully treated and their life has changed.
Similarly lots of tweets getting RT'ed' this past week by students (past and present) of 'top' accredited colleges, asking their Principals to consider signing up to the #time4change #mentalhealthcharter. Several of them telling me that this initiative was overdue. Surely this implies that current Mental Health Policies, however well meaning, need improving?
So here's my big question of the week. . .WHY wouldn't you sign the charter? What have you got to lose? For agents and producers it costs them absolutely nothing. That's all they have to do is a file merge and add the Charter to their standard contracts or welcome packs. I mean that is literally 5 mins work (unless you're on my office computer which admittedly means that it would take 30 mins....it is most definitely coming up to a much needed trip to a Genius store). The cost to a theatre is minimal. You just have to locate, in your area, the nearest Mental Health crises intervention team, locate a Buddhist centre providing mindfulness and meditation...plus a couple more things, just to add to your welcome pack. So what's that? Getting an employee to spend 30 mins googling that information (hell...we've even offered to help them out locating these places if they really don't know where to start). The cost to a college? 1 - 2 full days of having a Mental Health Practitioner with you to deliver a speech to your students, explaining WellBeing and giving a Mental Health overview, and to give a training session(s) to your staff. That is it. Other than that it's the same as for everyone else - a file merge to add the #time4change #mentalhealthcharter Fact Sheet to the welcome packs.
Simple isn't it?
Inexpensive isn't it?
So WHY are we having such difficulty selling this simple concept?
This week saw the launch of The Stage, Spotlight UK, BAPAM and Equity initiative ArtsMind, prompted by a survey they did back in 2015 http://www.artsminds.co.uk/ launched by The Stage 5 days ago: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2016/actor-suicides-prompt-launch-of-artsminds-mental-health-website/ Equity's Louise Granger had mentioned that this web portal would be launching this year back in March at our conference, and it's just brilliant that they've created a one stop 'hub' for performers to access as part of their mental health/well being tool kit. However when I was hashtag checking all things #time4change just a day after the launch of this website (a daily occurrence to ensure that I haven't missed anything important), I decided to hashtag check #artsmind and the amount or rather the lack of hashtags was shocking. This major initiative that had taken months to build, with 4 of our major industry heavy weights behind it, yet it could barely manage a presence for longer than a few days.
Again my question is WHY? WHY wasn't everyone taking care of 'everyone else' and pointing all creatives in that direction, so that webpage could be bookmarked 'in case of emergency'?
Then I was having a conversation with someone the other night who was asking me WHY I thought that people were reluctant to get involved...and it came to me. The stigma/fear is so great surrounding Mental Health, people are reluctant to engage in a process that might make them hold the mirror up to themselves. To engage in our initiative you would need to educate yourself, which might mean reflecting on old behaviours, or indeed there may be an acknowledgement of having a difficulty yourself that has never been addressed. The current consensus appears to be - if you're talking about it, you have it, and if you have it, I don't want to know. The stigma is alive and well. Heads are well and truly buried in the ground on this one.
I have consciously never divulged my own Mental Health status whilst campaigning - yet I received a positively vitriolic attack, presuming that I had started this campaign off due to 'my own issues'. Like I was attempting to create a problem in our industry for the hell of it?
So my big question of week 4 is WHY?
If you already have a robust Mental Health Policy in place you would naturally be fulfilling the terms of the Charter = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
If you're concerned that it'll take too much time - see above. We're talking a maximum of 30 mins out of your life to fulfil the terms of the charter = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
If you're worried about the costs - see above. Colleges would suffer the only financial penalty, but these are clearly costs that can be absorbed by the organisations in a bid to help and educated the young of our industry, and that after all is our job = RESULT. Sign up, and let's add your name and status to the campaign.
Finally my question is a bit more personal - to those people that I've contacted to attempt to get them interested in the initiative WHY have you ignored the email/tweet (or often both)? WHY wouldn't you just show a basic level of manners and say that for personal reasons you're not interested in this, or you think that it's nonsense or just a simple 'thanks but no thanks'? Every single time you've emailed/tweeted me, I've shown you the courtesy of an answer - WHY aren't you able to do the same. Trust me. . . I'm very busy too, but I always find time for manners.
So.....WHY wouldn't you sign the charter, and spread the word about ArtsMind while you're at it?
If this has made you interested in Charter - info@theMTA.co.uk putting #time4change as the subject.
PS...if you signed I could stop going on about it. Now WHY wouldn't you want that?
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Theatre is hard...so let's look after our own shall we?
This time last year I wrote this: http://www.thereviewshub.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-support-each-other-in-2015/ I felt sure that it would generate some interest...maybe even a couple of enquiries. In reality not ONE college got in touch to find out what I've been going on about.
To start at the very beginning...as we all know it's a very good place to start. When I first started blogging for the then called Public Reviews site I wrote this blog: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-mental-health-education-starts-at-college/ which was all about The MTA's approach to mental health. It generated quite a bit of interest at the time. People started to email me telling me their horror stories of colleges dealing (albeit with good intentions no doubt) so badly with mental health issues. If I heard one more time 'if only I'd trained with you'... not because of our course....but because of our pioneering pastoral health policy.
I blogged for nearly 2 years for that site, and would regularly revisit the issue of Mental Health in colleges. Someone pointed out to me that I was at risk of creating digital 'wallpaper'...as I was just going on about it too much. Too much? Too much? I hear a horror story at least once a month of how appalling the so called 'mental health' policies are at some places. I've heard how one well meaning staff member did something potentially so damaging to a person we're lucky that they're still here fighting to get well. I get regularly get emails from people that I don't know, but know that we 'bang on' about Mental Health Awareness and therefore maybe...just maybe we could point them in the right direction of where to turn, as they are in real crises, and sometimes in real danger. Just this week a major production company got in touch with us, as they needed some assistance on the subject of mental health and even they didn't know who to ask...and again remember me banging on about it, so got in touch with us to find a route through their dilemma with a cast member (incidentally how great is it that a company was attempting to help a cast member in difficulty, as opposed to simply replacing them - bravo to them?)
Before everyone tells me the same argument...yes we know that Equity supports BAPAM, and we know that BAPAM is an amazing organisation (and I truly mean that, having used their service myself in the past), but we're still missing the basic fact that if you're in the middle of a mental health crises it is likely to be really hard to physically turn up or indeed phone a BAPAM office, whereas it's a little easier to turn up or call your college's Mental Health consultant, that you've seen hanging around college regularly...or have heard stories about them from your peers. Which is the less daunting? Even better than that...what if your faculty had some mental health awareness themselves and had spotted your difficulties creeping up sooner, meaning that you were instructed to get some help BEFORE you reached a crises point? This is not a Christmas miracle that we're talking about...it's about every college having a mental health specialist at the heart of its faculty. It's dead simple. At The MTA both staff, students and ambassadors (the name that we've given to our graduates) can freely access this person 24/7 365 days a year. Our pioneering pastoral health policy puts the onus on us to spot the problem and to try and provide the solution. As opposed to the more traditional book an appointment with the counsellor sort of approach that most institutions adhere too.
Now I'm not saying that we've got it right. Hell, I'm sure that we haven't...and I'm looking forward to the conference that we're hosting on March 15th https://www.facebook.com/events/911328365625354/ to listen to other approaches to see what we can all gleen from each other and from different approaches. However I would say, that at least we're really trying to get somewhere with the Mental Health epidemic that is in our industry.
I have got into so many online fights this year about this topic...why are you telling me that your college provides a mental health service...if you yourself don't know anything about it, and more importantly having spoken to a number of your students...neither do they? Why tell me that your college told you that they were there to help you when you reached a difficulty during your induction week, when you've already forgotten the procedure by the time you needed that service, and that service is just with a counsellor NOT a mental health professional. Much more importantly WHY the hell aren't you asking yourself can I do anything else to help my students...as opposed to taking the high road with what you think you're already providing.
I'm proud of the service that we provide, but I don't think that it's perfect... so I'm not saying 'hello we've got it right and everybody else is wrong' I'm shouting (and repeating myself) ' hello we're doing pastoral care a bit differently, it's bringing up surprising statistics....maybe this is an area that we ALL need to be looking at really carefully....how can we improve what we're doing?'
I've been around a fair while, in 20 years I've been around most colleges in one capacity or another. I've worked in the entertainment industry for 26 years...I'm 'going on' about this as I can see the situation getting worse. We are losing colleagues far too young, because we didn't 'catch' them soon enough. One young loss is one too many...yet thanks to FB even I can see that the numbers are much higher than 'one'.
Regularly I get ambassadors coming back saying that so and so in their cast could just do with seeing 'Angie' (the name of our mental health specialist)...as they clearly needed some help. Our students have such an awareness of mental health because we 'go on about it' all the time. You know why? Because I don't want the next young loss to be one of mine! I know that it might be, I'm not naive....but I want to know that I did EVERYTHING possible to prevent it. At the very least we've removed the stigma and shame of people suffering with Mental Health difficulties at the college.
You have to be so robust to survive in our industry, daily rejection, weeks/months even years out of work. It's not like 'real life' is it? My first years just did as their first show Robin Soans' A State Affair, where they were forced to explore issues such as drug abuse, sex abuse and rape. You don't really run the risk of your past coming back to haunt you in that way if you sit behind a desk all day (unless your office environment is particularly cutting edge). Water cooler discussions tend 'not to go there'...but lots of good theatre not only 'goes there' but expects to take you with them. I think that you get my point.
We are in a strange but wonderful industry. It's the ride of a lifetime...but it shouldn't be your only ride. Please spare a thought this Christmas for people suffering with mental health issues...as it's a time known to make things feel worse. The world can be happy...yet you can be so low.
Catching a Mental Health illness early on means that potentially you could make a great difference to the rest of a life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if theatre, with all our eccentricities led the way in this field?
So my Christmas wish this year is simple...to all of you that are out there suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders etc, all of you that have contacted me to confirm my belief that we haven't got this right yet...please just retweet this blog...and then ask your college pastoral team to come to our conference. We already have confirmation from Equity YMC, The Stage and Spotlight that they'll be coming, and the pastoral lead from one other Drama UK college will be in attendance...so let's be getting the rest of you talking shall we?
If this is just 'digital wallpaper' then please print it off and use it...as actually none of us know who will be next . . . and you know what. . . it might even be you!
Merry Christmas one and all and a happy and HEALTHY(job filled) 2016
To start at the very beginning...as we all know it's a very good place to start. When I first started blogging for the then called Public Reviews site I wrote this blog: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/blog-annemarie-lewis-thomas-mental-health-education-starts-at-college/ which was all about The MTA's approach to mental health. It generated quite a bit of interest at the time. People started to email me telling me their horror stories of colleges dealing (albeit with good intentions no doubt) so badly with mental health issues. If I heard one more time 'if only I'd trained with you'... not because of our course....but because of our pioneering pastoral health policy.
I blogged for nearly 2 years for that site, and would regularly revisit the issue of Mental Health in colleges. Someone pointed out to me that I was at risk of creating digital 'wallpaper'...as I was just going on about it too much. Too much? Too much? I hear a horror story at least once a month of how appalling the so called 'mental health' policies are at some places. I've heard how one well meaning staff member did something potentially so damaging to a person we're lucky that they're still here fighting to get well. I get regularly get emails from people that I don't know, but know that we 'bang on' about Mental Health Awareness and therefore maybe...just maybe we could point them in the right direction of where to turn, as they are in real crises, and sometimes in real danger. Just this week a major production company got in touch with us, as they needed some assistance on the subject of mental health and even they didn't know who to ask...and again remember me banging on about it, so got in touch with us to find a route through their dilemma with a cast member (incidentally how great is it that a company was attempting to help a cast member in difficulty, as opposed to simply replacing them - bravo to them?)
Before everyone tells me the same argument...yes we know that Equity supports BAPAM, and we know that BAPAM is an amazing organisation (and I truly mean that, having used their service myself in the past), but we're still missing the basic fact that if you're in the middle of a mental health crises it is likely to be really hard to physically turn up or indeed phone a BAPAM office, whereas it's a little easier to turn up or call your college's Mental Health consultant, that you've seen hanging around college regularly...or have heard stories about them from your peers. Which is the less daunting? Even better than that...what if your faculty had some mental health awareness themselves and had spotted your difficulties creeping up sooner, meaning that you were instructed to get some help BEFORE you reached a crises point? This is not a Christmas miracle that we're talking about...it's about every college having a mental health specialist at the heart of its faculty. It's dead simple. At The MTA both staff, students and ambassadors (the name that we've given to our graduates) can freely access this person 24/7 365 days a year. Our pioneering pastoral health policy puts the onus on us to spot the problem and to try and provide the solution. As opposed to the more traditional book an appointment with the counsellor sort of approach that most institutions adhere too.
Now I'm not saying that we've got it right. Hell, I'm sure that we haven't...and I'm looking forward to the conference that we're hosting on March 15th https://www.facebook.com/events/911328365625354/ to listen to other approaches to see what we can all gleen from each other and from different approaches. However I would say, that at least we're really trying to get somewhere with the Mental Health epidemic that is in our industry.
I have got into so many online fights this year about this topic...why are you telling me that your college provides a mental health service...if you yourself don't know anything about it, and more importantly having spoken to a number of your students...neither do they? Why tell me that your college told you that they were there to help you when you reached a difficulty during your induction week, when you've already forgotten the procedure by the time you needed that service, and that service is just with a counsellor NOT a mental health professional. Much more importantly WHY the hell aren't you asking yourself can I do anything else to help my students...as opposed to taking the high road with what you think you're already providing.
I'm proud of the service that we provide, but I don't think that it's perfect... so I'm not saying 'hello we've got it right and everybody else is wrong' I'm shouting (and repeating myself) ' hello we're doing pastoral care a bit differently, it's bringing up surprising statistics....maybe this is an area that we ALL need to be looking at really carefully....how can we improve what we're doing?'
I've been around a fair while, in 20 years I've been around most colleges in one capacity or another. I've worked in the entertainment industry for 26 years...I'm 'going on' about this as I can see the situation getting worse. We are losing colleagues far too young, because we didn't 'catch' them soon enough. One young loss is one too many...yet thanks to FB even I can see that the numbers are much higher than 'one'.
Regularly I get ambassadors coming back saying that so and so in their cast could just do with seeing 'Angie' (the name of our mental health specialist)...as they clearly needed some help. Our students have such an awareness of mental health because we 'go on about it' all the time. You know why? Because I don't want the next young loss to be one of mine! I know that it might be, I'm not naive....but I want to know that I did EVERYTHING possible to prevent it. At the very least we've removed the stigma and shame of people suffering with Mental Health difficulties at the college.
You have to be so robust to survive in our industry, daily rejection, weeks/months even years out of work. It's not like 'real life' is it? My first years just did as their first show Robin Soans' A State Affair, where they were forced to explore issues such as drug abuse, sex abuse and rape. You don't really run the risk of your past coming back to haunt you in that way if you sit behind a desk all day (unless your office environment is particularly cutting edge). Water cooler discussions tend 'not to go there'...but lots of good theatre not only 'goes there' but expects to take you with them. I think that you get my point.
We are in a strange but wonderful industry. It's the ride of a lifetime...but it shouldn't be your only ride. Please spare a thought this Christmas for people suffering with mental health issues...as it's a time known to make things feel worse. The world can be happy...yet you can be so low.
Catching a Mental Health illness early on means that potentially you could make a great difference to the rest of a life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if theatre, with all our eccentricities led the way in this field?
So my Christmas wish this year is simple...to all of you that are out there suffering from depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders etc, all of you that have contacted me to confirm my belief that we haven't got this right yet...please just retweet this blog...and then ask your college pastoral team to come to our conference. We already have confirmation from Equity YMC, The Stage and Spotlight that they'll be coming, and the pastoral lead from one other Drama UK college will be in attendance...so let's be getting the rest of you talking shall we?
If this is just 'digital wallpaper' then please print it off and use it...as actually none of us know who will be next . . . and you know what. . . it might even be you!
Merry Christmas one and all and a happy and HEALTHY(job filled) 2016
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