PEOPLE who have suffered mental health issues are performing in a new play which directly challenges members of the audience on their views of mental health.
Based on the real-life experiences of mental health patients who suffered from discrimination, Being Frank is the work of writer Katie White, who has recently been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA and won Best British Short at the 2014 Iris Prize Festival.
Playing to audiences as diverse as Falkirk councillors and psychology students, Being Frank follows the eponymous main character Frank through a period of poor mental health and into his recovery, exploring the barriers and discrimination that he faces while he is unwell.
Perhaps uniquely, each performance is followed by a question-and-answer session.
The play has been created by the Falkirk District Association for Mental Health (FDAMH) and is supported and funded by See Me, Scotland’s national programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination.
It will be performed to targeted audiences, including psychology students, nursing and social work students, Scottish Government workers and staff, and Falkirk Council members.
The group of writers and performers from FDAMH’s Pink 2:2 Media Group have all lived through experiences of mental ill health and the play draws heavily on their own suffering of stigma.
It is hoped Being Frank ,which also builds on previous work by the FDAMH media group, will help to raise the confidence and self-esteem of those involved.
Julie Law, the befriending coordinator at FDAMH, said: “The group know that the majority of people stigmatise not through malice, but through lack of knowledge, fear of not knowing what to do or say and general ignorance about mental health.
“The play and the question-and-answer session hopes to address this and offer practical ways that people can show support and support their own mental wellbeing.
“Students rarely if ever get the opportunity to talk freely and openly with adults with lived experience of profound mental ill health about the process of recovery, the impact of stigma and the tools they use to aid their recovery.
“We hope, by reaching students, we can add to their learning experience and challenge stigma and ignorance surrounding living with poor mental health.”
The production is part of See Me, Scotland’s National programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination which aims to create a culture in Scotland that enables people who experience mental health problems to live fulfilled lives.
See Me is managed by the Scottish Association for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation and funded by Scottish Government and Comic
Relief.
See Me says it is building a movement of people and
organisations all over the country whose collective action will help to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with poor mental health. The performances by FDAMH, which begin this month, are vital in bringing this movement to the Forth Valley.
Judith Robertson, See Me programme director, said: “We are passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination that is unfairly attached to having a mental health problem.
“To do this we want people, groups and organisations from all over Scotland to come together, take action and challenge the issues where they see them.
“We know that two out of three people with mental health problems stop some day-to-day activity because of the fear of stigma or discrimination.
“The play by FDAMH will boost the confidence of those involved and help to directly tackle that self-stigma.
“Through the question-and-answer sessions the audience’s attitudes and behaviours will be directly challenged, helping to tackle stigma in some vital areas.”
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