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Theatre Can Help With Mental Heath Recovery

PAR002_123@heg.com — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:17:35 GMT

Speak to your audience

Theatre and drama, if you have mental health challenges, can be a great way to engage with people in an entertaining way. If gives you the opportunity to share you story with many people who know very little about mental health. It offers a platform and puts you in the driving seat to talk about yourself and your issues in a non-clinical, entertain way. It also gives you licence to share and educate your audience about the mental health journey.

Start Discussion

Theatre can also spark discussion and personal reflection about mental illness, decrease stigma, build empathy for people living with mental illness and even encourage activism. It opens up such topics a stigma, causes, treatment methods, complimentary methods and how to live a day to day life with mental health issues. Find you voice and use your voice.

Theatre Is Fun
Th key to any form of story telling and sharing it in a theatrical way is fun; yea you read it right, fun! Telling your story can not only be a cathartic exercise for the story teller but ,it is fun and enjoyable at the same time. It will help with wellbeing, self belief, self confidence and the fun side relay helps release some of those feel good endorphins which make us feel better. The more fun we have the easier it becomes to tell you story.

Theatre In The Community
Stepping Stone Theatre For Mental Health take great pride in encouraging the community as much as they can and at the same time being very creatively comfortable do a small session for a library group. It is so important for the mental health community to get involved in our creative projects so together we can educate the wider community as to the issues around living with mental health challenges and when this is presented in a creative way it open the topic up to a wider audience making subject more accessible.

The Stepping Stone Scribblers

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 14:17:35 GMT

The Stepping Stone Scribblers

The Stepping Stone Scribblers going from strength to strength with on line classes and face to face classes happening every week. The outcome of these classes is the production of six Lock Down Legacy Books . Written by service users, for service users, by service users. It is now and official library book available in Gainsborough Library in Lincolnshire.

It is hope that a new collection of books will be in production soon entitled "In Our Own Words"

Feedback From The Scribblers

I don’t know how I would have managed these recent weeks without the help of Stepping Stone. I’m currently going through a particular difficult time but I would like to say that Kate Hull Rodgers has helped me tremendously with her kindness and understanding. The Stepping Stone activities have also been helpful in particular the writing group and walking group. Long may it continue. Wendy C

Stepping stone theatre has been such a support for me during the loneliness of lockdown of the grief of losing my husband suddenly and then when housebound due to injury. I look forward to the live talk 3 times a week it’s company and it’s a friendship group where you can talk about how you’re feeling and get help and advice. This group of people are people we have never met and live far and wide but through the chats we are helping each other. Thank you stepping stone theatre for providing this service, you’ve given me so much over past couple of years. I do appreciate it. Wendy W

The Stepping Stone Scribblers have had an enormous impact on my life over the last couple of years, and show no sign of stopping. I have made a lot of good friends through this writing group and I have rediscovered my creativity. As a result of Kate’s relentless positivity, I gained sufficient confidence in my abilities to write a poem every day. And now, Kate and Bill are helping me with the publication of my first book of poetry. Dave

The Stepping Stone Scribblers Group has been a tremendous help regarding my mental health issues. The Group ran by Kate Hull Rodgers is now an essential part of my weekly mental health management routine. The ability to release and express your thoughts via the written word honestly is an essential facility for mental health wellness. Paul

Stepping Stone Theatre for mental health continues to be a massive part of my wellbeing. The friendships I have made are so so precious to me and I have support from others who experience the same things. Even when we don’t experience exactly the same, we can still support one another because we all know what it’s like to be in crisis and have people without mental health problems judging or simply not comprehending what’s wrong. A lot of the time the support we give one another is better even than that which I’ve experienced from professionals, who often have no personal experience. Stepping Stone Theatre for mental health is absolutely vital and I’m proud to be able to take part. Gryph

Blogging is free
Maintaining a blog is absolutely free. Why not try writing a blog or start personal and journal. A book, a pen and a quiet space and away you go. "Don't get it right get it written"

Stepping Stone Theatre For Mental Health Invited to Coach in Universities

PAR002_123@heg.com — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 13:17:36 GMT

Stepping Stone Theatre for Mental Health have been running a story telling programme at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln. The programme also incorporated how to share your mental health story in a non-clinical way. It has been a great success. It was a very much needed exercise, as many of the students had missed so much time away from university because of the pandemic and the Lock Downs. You peoples mental health is paramount right now and Stepping Stone Theatre believe that creativity has to run hand in hand with academia in order for people to enjoy the learning process with an open creative mind

What The University Said

It's been fabulous to have you and Bill work with so many groups of students at BGU. The feedback has always been positive and it is clear that students have benefitted, finding the sessions engaging and enabling - finding their voices to express their own stories, journeys and experiences, especially relating to wellbeing and mental health. The peer support and sense of community that students have talked about as a result of your sessions has helped strengthened cohort bonds and peer-support and friendship groups - this is hugely positive for students who have lived with the restrictions, anxieties and potential isolation of the pandemic.

What The Students Said

It was a really good session. It was good to open up even though it was challenging at times. It was good to from challenging times and thinking about the negatives to finishing on the positives and happy memories. Anon

The workshop was quite emotional when people shared their stories and letters to their younger selves. It was hard to think of what to write most of the time. Anon

I really enjoyed today’s session. It was a good way to learn about others and also find ways to deal with our emotions. I would have liked to know we could be more in depth in the letter because I would have discussed coping with leukaemia more. I also worried to trigger others. Thank you. Anon

I enjoyed that it wasn’t just sitting down and writing and that it was interactive. I liked how it was talking about mental health but wasn’t completely depressing.

Naming and Re-Naming was good. Only problem now is I can only associate my peers with their re-name name. The letter was emotionally draining not only for myself but I could empathise with everyone. Anon

I really enjoyed today’s session. It has really opened my eyes that everyone has hard times and to not let it define us but equally that we can all be there for each other. I feel relieved through voicing my past experience especially as its coming up to my anniversary. Talking has allowed me to process my thoughts. (ed. Note – the anniversary she is speaking of is a suicide attempt)

It has been helpful and challenging. It helped me a little with my social anxiety aka speaking in front of the whole class. It also gave us a safe place to get all our feelings/thoughts off our chests. Anon