(l-r) Amy Lindop, Louisa Long,
Camille Campbell and Lauren Frost ,
A group of Performing Arts students have helped to produce a film which aims to de-stigmatise emotional well-being issues in young people.
Funded by the mental health charity, Rethink, the film will be used as an educational tool in schools and colleges. The idea for the film originated from the Young Persons Specialist Service (YPSS), part of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), based at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.
The DVD will be shown to mental health professionals around the country and to young people who are experiencing emotional well-being issues to help them feel more positive about their experiences.
Before starting the project the students took part in specialised training from CAMHS and Rethink. Under supervision from ncn’s Counselling team, they worked with a group of young people using the mental health service to produce a script and to choreograph expressive dance routines.
ncn Volunteer Support Worker, Louisa Long, said: “The students made a real difference to the adolescents involved in the project. They helped them to build confidence and self esteem by facilitating performing arts activities. The end product is a slick production with a hard hitting message.”
Volunteer, Amy Lindop, 21, said: “I found the experience really inspiring and something I would definitely like to get involved in again. We used contemporary dance moves because it can be quite a narrative and abstract dance style. These dance moves were then used to reflect the emotions of the young people.
I think the media is one of the main reasons for stigma around mental health issues and also because a lot of young people just don’t understand it. Over the years it has been seen as something bad but it is slowly becoming more accepted. The DVD will hopefully make people question what they think about mental health issues and the subject will become less of a taboo.”
Posted on 6 July 2010