Yesterday was World Mental Health Day and the focus was all about workplace mental health. To mark the occasion we talked to Helm’s new Placement Student about mental health, finding a job after school and Art Therapy.
For you, what are the most common mental health problems that young people are facing today/post-covid?
Well what I’ve heard here from the team, definitely anxiety, low mood, self-motivation, self-esteem. And just lots of external pressure right now for young people, with social media and the kind-of comparison-itis that’s happening. Being able to view somebody who has everything materialistically compared to your own situation is obviously going to be bruising or damaging for anybody, even as adults, but especially young people who are so immersed in that social media world. But yeah, that’s just my own interpretation of what I’m seeing at the moment.
And for young people facing those things, who’ve maybe just left school and are thinking “what next?”, how do you think that impacts them finding a job?
I think expectations are a huge part. Again by witnessing things on social media or hearing those narratives – they’re really quick. Everything’s available and at your hands quite quickly and I think the problem with that is, going into a job realistically, it’s a long day or there are bits of it that aren’t shiny and nice. You might not get paid enough that you can treat yourself to all the things you want to treat yourself to. So I think it’s a real expectations vs reality kind of thing which leads to disappointment or feelings of shame. It must be very difficult to navigate that.
How do you think things like Art Therapy can help with that pressure, both from social media and the pressure of figuring out what you want to do with your life after school, and any other things young people may be working through?
There’s that transition from being supported as a child or young person, and then all of a sudden you’ve got to make those adult choices for the rest of your adult life – and you might not feel ready for that yet. Art Therapy can be a place that’s a pause in between that transition. It doesn’t even need to be a place where you figure those big decisions out logically, but just be a moment to pause and sit with yourself without having to be in this dual way of thinking. It’s a chance for people to express themselves without the pressure of what other people are thinking or what decisions they feel they should be doing. I think it takes the should out of their lives for a moment.
For you, what is Art Therapy? And do you need to be good at art?
Yeah that’s a common thing if you speak to someone about whether they’d be interested in trying Art Therapy. The first thing they’ll say is, “I’m no good at Art” or “No I’d be rubbish at that because of my artistic ability”, but that has very little to do with actually doing art therapy. I think Art Therapy can be useful because it can be like a third thing in the room. Sometimes talking therapy can be a bit exposing, in terms of someone has their eye contact on you and you have to verbalise things you might not even be able to verbalise to yourself. Whereas by doing Art therapy there’s this third thing in the room you can communicate with. And you can surprise yourself by what happens in that space. It’s a curious space to navigate because it’s the opposite of the pressures one might be feeling outside of that space.
It’s interesting that people’s first thoughts about Art Therapy tend to be “I’m not good at art” – especially since we’ve been talking about things like pressure, comparison-itis on social media, making big adult decisions and potentially worrying about whether they’re the right ones.
Yeah and Art Therapy doesn’t just doesn’t need to be this idyllic thing, it can be challenging too. You will sit down and even if all of your intentions are to be relaxed, to enjoy yourself, to express yourself freely, there is this innate thing within us now that is that pressure and it can be really challenging to make something that looks ugly or doesn’t feel very nice. But in those challenges you’re going to find out so much more about yourself. So it’s not about what looks good to anybody it’s how you feel about that art and how you interpret it.
Finally, is there anything you want to say, or any advice you want to leave us with?
I think I just want to say and acknowledge that it’s a really difficult thing to navigate, for anybody. Especially if you’re dealing with mental health discomfort or you’re finding it challenging making these adult decisions, especially in these times. Just to say that so anyone reading this knows they don’t have to know all the answers or be this best/amazing person. You’re always allowed to change your mind, the decision you make today doesn’t define you.