Important issue for us all: Mental ill health

A common statistic quoted is that 1 in 3 or 4 of us in Britain will experience some form of mental ill health in our lifetimes. A worrying figure and this level of incidence in almost any other illness would be always at the top of the health agenda. But mental ill health has traditionally been a hidden illness, in part because it can’t be seen. But there are also major issues of stigma associated with being ‘mental’.

People with experience of mental and emotional distress are as varied as people with any other condition, and the appropriate treatment, or road to recovery, is also varied. These ideas, and 20 years working with and supporting people; have informed local author, Clive Essame’s, writing of Mbali. This is the title of a play that he finished writing in 2015 in partnership with Judith Maitland who has many years experience of mental and emotional distress. The play looks specifically at some of the issues around depression. The story uses African wild animals as characters as it is aimed for young people, and by taking the characters one step away from humans, the message is told without being too dark.

Through his writing, Clive demonstrates that mental illness is a serious, real illness that can be life threatening, but that there are potential positive outcomes. Mental ill-health is an important and relevant issue for young people nowadays and it is critical to get the conversations started.

Clive Essame and Judith Maitland have chosen to support a national charity that provides emotional and therapeutic services in primary and secondary school. 50% of the royalties of the sales of the Mbali script will be donated to Place2Be.

Place2Be recently announced HRH The Duchess of Cambridge as their Royal Patron. The Duchess' decision to support Place2Be is a reflection of her personal interest in and commitment to improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children in the UK. You can take a look at HRH The Duchess of Cambridge message here.

To read more of Clive's work and support Place2Be, visit the recently launched Wild Stories Productions website: http://wildstoriesproductions.com/

Place2Be is a charity that provides emotional and therapeutic services in primary and secondary schools, building children's resilience through talking, creative work and play. Place2Be works with 257 primary and secondary schools, reaching a school population of 105,000 children, helping them to cope with wide-ranging and often complex social issues including bullying, bereavement, domestic violence, family breakdown, neglect and trauma.

Wild Stories Productions, led by writer Clive Essame, creates innovative theatre inspired by the sounds and sights of Africa. Clive Essame has lived with a physical impairment since birth. He has worked with people who are disadvantaged for one reason or another for many years and has been a professional writer and workshop leader since the early 1990s. He worked with South African actor and writer Ellis Pearson to create Impisi; and Devon based writer Judith Maitland on Mbali.