AN EXCLUSIVE CHAT WITH MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS & 3 ALICE IN WONDERLAND QUOTES MADE RELEVANT TO MENTAL HEALTH | ALICE IN WONDERLAND: THE MUSICAL | IN COLLABORATION WITH IMMERSION THEATRE

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“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”

Madeleine L’Engle

On attending a show at Whitley Bay Playhouse, I just happened to spot the poster for Alice in Wonderland: The Musical and I think that I literally jumped for joy with pure, childish excitement! I’ve loved Alice in Wonderland for well over ten years now with my obsession starting when I read the book whilst a sectioned (detained under Section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act) inpatient of a psychiatric hospital. I almost immediately discovered just how beneficial the level of imagination used in the plot was for my ability to use reading the book as the opportunity for some emotional and psychological escapism. It provided me with the chance to really block out my environment and, actually, my entire situation. It afforded me this amazing skill to just fully immerse myself in Wonderland, become engrossed in Alice’s adventure, and really become invested in each of the hysterical, but seriously wise, characters. So –with my love for Musicals also in mind – seeing this poster was incredibly exciting and I genuinely pulled my Mum along to the Box Office and bought tickets. Then, I came home and contacted Immersion Theatre to pitch the idea of this piece being a collaboration and I’m so honoured to have received a ‘yes!’ and to have been given the opportunity to actually have a chat with two of their cast.

So, I’ve put together this post full of snippets from my chat with Chris Laishley who plays the Mad Hatter and Meg Matthews who plays both the parts of the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts, as well as a few bits about how I relate to three of my favourite quotes from the Alice in Wonderland story…

WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE TO BE UNDER THE CARE OF THE CRISIS TEAM

“Never give up on someone with a mental illness. When ‘I’ is replaced with ‘we.’ Illness becomes wellness”

Shannon L Alder

The Crisis Team are definitely an element of mental health which is misunderstood, and the Teams are often the ones who receive the most negative feedback. In this post, and as someone who is currently under the care of the Crisis Team, I hope to promote a better understanding of them and instil hope in others to utilise their local Team for help and support in a mental health crisis.


The first instance

My first memory of an interaction with the Crisis Team is from 2009 when I had attempted suicide through taking an overdose. Somehow my Mum knew I had done it and she tried to convince me to go to hospital for the potentially life-saving antidote treatment. I refused and she asked what she was supposed to do, and I remember telling her “ring the Crisis Team because it sounds like you’re in a crisis!” To be honest, I don’t remember actually speaking to the Crisis Team, but they came to the house and arranged for me to have a Mental Health Act assessment with two Psychiatrists and an AMHP (Approved Mental Health Practitioner). I was detained under Section 2 of the 1983 Act and the Crisis Team opened the door to allow six Police to march in, restrain me, handcuff me, and carry me out to their van.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF A SUICIDE AWARENESS TRAINING SESSION WITH THE BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE

I wasn’t sure how to blog about the training session I’ve just facilitated with the British Transport Police, and then I noticed that my ‘Behind-The-Scenes’ posts seem to do really well… I think a lot of that is about the naturally curious nature of people and the want to gain insight into something you may be interested in but have little or no experience of. So, here’s a bit about what goes on in training with the Police; from the initial discussions to the actual session…

How it came about

Over a year ago, I was on a train when a drunken man began giving a ton of verbal abuse to the Train Manager and myself. So much so that we ended up going to the British Transport Police (BTP) when we got off the train and gave our statements. The Officer who took charge of the entire incident; Richie, was really lovely and helpful and I ended up telling him all about my mental health problems and that I’d helped Steve Baker and Claire Andre deliver mental health training sessions for the new recruits of Northumbria Police. It didn’t take us long to start discussing the prospect of me facilitating some training for the BTP officers too.

BEHIND THE SCENES: CHRISTMAS ON A PSYCHIATRIC WARD

Even with the startling statistic that one in four people in the UK will experience mental ill health at some point in their lives, the chance that someone will be in a psychiatric hospital at Christmas, is minimal and I’d like to think that my blog is largely about providing insight into aspects of mental health that lots of people might not really comprehend. I hope that in doing so, it will help people to be a lot more understanding for those of us who do have these experiences. So, I thought it might be interesting to give readers an insight into what it’s actually like to spend Christmastime in a psychiatric hospital…

For new readers and to give a bit of background… 


Two years after being abused from 2006 until 2007, I began hallucinating and within ten days I became suicidal and took an overdose. I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and spent the following three years in and out of hospitals – both medical and psychiatric. Finally, a Psychiatrist recommended that I be admitted to a long-term, specialist hospital and I began undergoing assessments with some such hospitals. The first two hospitals weren’t secure and wouldn’t accept my flight risk but when I heard that the third operated on timetabled day with intensive therapy, I refused to go. Then, in July 2012, I attempted suicide again and refused to have the lifesaving antidote to the overdose I’d taken so I was detained under the Mental Capacity Act and sedated to be put on life support for the duration of the treatment. When I woke up, the first thing I was told was that I’d be going to the psychiatric hospital I’d refused to go to, over 100 miles from home.

When I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act (1983) within twenty-four hours of being in the hospital, I realized that there was little chance of me being discharged before Christmas. Then, in November 2012, when I was recovering from an overdose I’d taken after going AWOL, I realized that there was equally as little chance of me managing to kill myself before Christmas too. So, I began preparing for my first Christmas away from home.