This week (10th May – 16th May 2021) is Mental Health Awareness Week. For the past few weeks YMCA clients in Great Yarmouth have been looking at mental health as part of the Kick the Dust programme. They have learnt about famous local individuals who struggled with mental health and looked at creative ways to help themselves cope.
This blog was produced by YMCA clients dealing with mental health in an honest way and some people may find some of the content unsettling and upsetting:
Welcome everyone to our Kick the Dust blog from the East. We have decided to write this blog during mental health week to spread help and awareness as this is something close to our hearts and we all struggle with our own demons. We will show you ways to express yourself through different methods to suit yourself and hope there is something you enjoy on a personal level.
Read on to find out more…
Expressions Through Art
We believe that we can express ourselves through art. It provides a healthy outlet for feelings that some people don’t know how to manage or get out and gives them a sense of release. Art is an alternate way to communicate, sometimes using water colours can be sensory based to create a collage of feelings. Here are ours – why not have a go!
Why is it helpful to express emotions through Art?
- Art can provide safe contains of emotions.
- Help to off load thoughts and feelings in your mind.
- Reflect of your own Art/ Masterpieces.
- A fantastic way to communicate when the words don’t come out.
Poetry
Poetry is one of the purest forms of expression.
Self-expressions take many forms it is a place where one can express their inner self and capture it on paper. Through words and song, the reader will be able to dive into the depts of the poet’s mind, thoughts and feeling.
History of Mental Health and how it’s effected people for years!
In our Kick the Dust sessions we have learnt how so many people suffer daily and for years in the past. We have studied two people who struggled in particular from Great Yarmouth.
The first one was Lorina Bulwer a woman from Norfolk who struggled with poor mental health. She was born in 1838 in Beccles. Her and her mother ran a guest house. Lorina loved needlework and embroidery.
She was an ARTIST WITH A DIFFERENCE!! She made many pieces of artwork using scraps fabrics. And stitching words to express her thoughts and feelings mainly insults of the workers when she was in a workhouse. One of her creations was 3 meters long! Here are picture of her and some of her work fuelled by her anger and frustrations:
The second person was Kenneth Macmillan who had extremely bad anxiety due to a hard life. He was poor and gay which was frowned upon in those times. He also loved to dance but this was also not seen as appropriate for a male. Boys would laugh and make fun of him. He could not wait to get out of school. At the age of 15 he won a scholarship to a London ballet school. It wasn’t long until he became a male lead, but he couldn’t handle the stage fright it would cripple him with fear stopping him performing.
LUCKY! He found his way to escape the fear and became a choreographer and helped others perform and he went on to revolutionize the world of dancing. Until then ballet had been about looking pretty in Swan Lake and Nutcracker. He wrote dances and used the human body to express deep emotions like love, fear, hatred and anxiety.
Mental health First Aid Boxes
What is a mental health box???
Exactly how it sounds like! A box of games, chocolate, toys or comforter, picture or music , pamper products, wipes or tissues and elastic bands.
Here is how to make one:
Knowing that in our home we can have a mental health kit which will help and lift your spirts when feeling low. It is like a gift from a kind and thoughtful friend or yourself. You can have anything in it that you like chocolate, face mask, music, craft you enjoy, photos. So, there you have it, the current contents of my mental health first aid kit, items get swapped in and out depending on how I am feeling and what I need.
Creating Your Self-Care Box:
Before you start creating your self-care box you must think about what to put in it.
It is a good idea to think about the types of self care, what easily fits into the box and to include your senses.
Once you have in mind what you want to put in the box, now it is time to create a sacred self-care box.
Find a good size box and then (if you like to get creative) decorate it with sequins, glitter, gems, pictures, fabric, whatever you like.
Next fill your box up with all your favorite self-care items that make you feel awesome.
Let’s take a look at some examples…
So, the 5 types of self-care are:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Sensory
- Social
Now look at ours for ideas.
Below are some personal stories that some YMCA clients have bravely decided to share:
Clients Stories:
My Friend-
I have the most beautiful friend during high school. I loved her like a sister, my mum even joke that she wanted to adopt her. She had a difficult childhood; she was in foster care. Whenever she felt down, she would often run away to mine. Although in 2008 I moved away from my hometown.
I can still see her standing outside my old house waving goodbye with my boyfriend. I sometimes look back and wonder if things would be different if I had stayed. In 2017 she had suffered a relapse of depression and emotional unstable personality disorder and nearly took her own life.
She stood on top of a bus station when her guardian Angel arrived and talked her out of it. After being saved she search of this amazing person, after speaking to the GP about her problems she felt stronger, bit by bit with little steps and tried to speak to people to find the strength to keep going.
She shared her story to “Give people hope” on her blog to help other which gave her the motivation to carry on and had a beautiful baby.
Unfortunately, on Dec 5th2020 everything got too much for her, and she took her own life. I found out the day after she passed. I broke down in tears luckily, I was not alone and had friends with me to comfort and support me.
Suicidal thoughts are not easy but there is so much support out there if anything be kind!!!
I wanted to share her story of how she wanted to help so many people from feeling that pain, this is my way to carry on in her voice and vision raising awareness.
My Life-
I have suffered with depression for the last 11 years it all started when I lost my mum when I was 16 years old, I feel like I when into a dark black hole where I did not think I would ever see the light again. With the help of my family who were also missing my mum we would all get though it together and talk about her and how we are feeling I also got put on anti-depression pills to help me get though this dark time my friends would also help by taking me places and people to talk to. I started to come to terms with it all in the end. I started to feel like my old self as much as I could be with out my mum being round me anymore. There are also still days when I feel low, and I think and cry about it sometimes to this day.
In 2015 I had my little girl, and she is my everything. I got upset again when she was born because one thing came into my head my mum would never meet her granddaughter and I know she would of loved her to pieces. I was doing well as all my time was on her and only her. I also had social services in my life at this time which was so hard because it feels like I was being watched all the time and my depression was creeping back on me with all the stress. In 2017 I lost the battle with social services and they took my baby girl away from me. I then hit rock bottom once again I was lost and did not know what to do I laid in bed crying for weeks on end, I would be forced to eat, and I ended up in hospital because of my blood presser being so low because I was not eating well and drinking. A group of friends finally pulled me out of my depression by making me get out of bed and doing things I in joy again like helping with their horses and going out places to keep my mind off all the bad thoughts going through my head.
I am now in a better place with in myself but do not get me wrong I can still have bad days where I want to fall back in my black hole when life throws me a curve ball, so I must take 5 minutes and just breath or cry and just ask myself how to get it sorted. Like if I did my pills for a while just to help me get back on track and I find talking to people who love me about what is going on in my maze of a head at the time can help. I now have support from YMCA and working on getting my own home and daughter back again things are starting to look up.
Thanks again to the YMCA Clients in Great Yarmouth for sharing their experiences with us, and letting us know what they have learnt over the past few weeks.
By Emma Price, Kick the Dust Project Worker
Time and Tide Museum 