Sometimes I See Sound and Feel in Colour
To talk openly about your mental illness takes huge bravery. When we hear this journey we are invited to more deeply understand and hear what it is like. To hear how it feels. To think about how we can hold space and compassion for those living with mental illness, and for all the people in their lives.
My Mum, The Zombie
Children are intensely noticing little people. They see and hear everything with eyes and ears sharply tuned in, trying to make sense of it all, seizing on times of lightness and navigating sadness and loss with the important people in their lives. These conversations in families can be hard but they can also help make meaning and a sense of understanding to what is happening in their world.
No Longer Yourself
Mental illness can come in and out of lives, unannounced or with a loud voice, and with it bring cycles of big feelings in families. Big feelings – worry, rage, fear - that can be really hard to find words to describe if it is your parent who is living with the mental illness. We think these words can be found and heard, in a whole range of ways.
The Mountain Man, The Bear, and The Camel
Having a parent with a mental illness can be all kinds of things. Every story is different. Every family meets it in their own way – with love, worry, care, frustration, humour, creativity, rage, acceptance and distance – and that’s just a start. We honour the amazing and unique ways that families live their lives in this space.
The Everything Bag
In this ever-changing world we are asked more and more to find ways to adapt. In families where there are mental health challenges, the unpredictable can sometimes feel like the every day. Finding things, however small, people or objects that can come with you when times feel tricky can be a way of finding consistency.
Infrequently Asked Questions
If there was no judgement, no repercussions, and no fear of saying the wrong thing - what would you ask someone (of any age) about living with or around mental health challenges?
It's a Mad Chat
A view inside the process of creating It's a Mad World. Come in, and listen to an eight minute excerpt from over twenty hours of conversation between eight individuals who all shared a passion to bravely and openly destigmatise one of the most stigmatised subjects on the planet.