MENTAL HEALTH & CREATIVITY | IN COLLABORATION WITH TIME TO CHANGE STORYCAMP 2020

We’ve reached the end of Time To Change’s Storycamp this year and the final briefing is all about creativity with the intention of content creators deciding on their own theme; but I liked the idea of just writing about creativity and how it can impact mental health…


I’d say that I’ve always been creative; when I was little, I used to love cutting things out of magazines and catalogues and making collages from them with my Nana. But I think my biggest creative outlet was through writing. I used to write so many short stories – mainly about horses because I was absolutely obsessed with them and took riding lessons for a while – that my Mum and Nana would read. I’d watch their reactions; a laugh or a smile, and it taught me the power words can have over the reader’s thoughts and feelings.


As I got older, I began developing a fascination with the idea of working in Fashion and decided to opt for Textiles as an exam subject in High School. Unfortunately, the subject’s Teacher was probably the least encouraging person in the world! The criticism she was full of was never constructive, and she was forever filling my head with doubts on my ability in the subject. I became so sceptical that by the end of the exams I had lost all interest and passion for drawing or being creative in any way.

TIME TO CHANGE STORYCAMP 2020 THEME TWO: THREE THINGS

Every two weeks from June 1^st until August 24^th 2020, Time To Change will be giving those who have signed up to StoryCamp, a theme to use as inspiration to create content on. This fortnight, the theme is ‘three things…’ and I couldn’t decide on one topic I’d like you to know three things about so here are thirteen…!!

Three Things You Should Know About Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

1.       Having the same diagnosis does not mean everyone with BPD has the same symptoms.

2.       Those diagnosed with BPD are not attention seekers

3.       Even mental health staff have a stigma against those with BPD

Three Things You Should Know About Being Sectioned

1.       It feels like you have a sign on your head telling everyone you’re detained under the Mental Health Act

TIME TO CHANGE STORYCAMP 2020 THEME ONE: WHY I BELIEVE IT’S IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH

You've got the words to change a nation
But you're biting your tongue
You've spent a life time stuck in silence
Afraid you'll say something wrong
If no one ever hears it how we gonna learn your song?

…
You've got a heart as loud as lightning
So why let your voice be tamed?
Maybe we're a little different
There's no need to be ashamed
You've got the light to fight the shadows
So stop hiding it away

Read All About It – Emeli Sande

Every two weeks from June 1^st until August 24^th 2020, Time To Change will be giving those who have signed up to StoryCamp, a theme to use as inspiration to create content on. This fortnight, the theme is ‘why I believe it’s important to talk about mental health.’


When my mental health first began to deteriorate in 2009, I couldn’t even consider the prospect of telling someone or asking for help. For me, it wasn’t an option. Back then, there was really no talk of mental health – no one told us about it in School, there was very little in the media, and my friends didn’t ever mention if they were struggling. I assumed this meant that it was taboo and a bit of a forbidden subject that was something to either be ashamed of or to just deny was occurring. 


So, when I started experiencing auditory hallucinations aged 18 (two years after the abuse had ‘ended’) I was so terrified at what it meant and the worry that I was ‘going crazy’ left me convinced that I’d be locked away in the local psychiatric hospital that I’d heard horror stories about! Looking back, had I known what I know now about mental health and services, if I’d gotten help when the hallucinations first started, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up attempting suicide two weeks after they’d begun. Unfortunately, though, it took taking an overdose and being sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act before I finally opened up and talked about my mental health.