Mental Health is just as important as Physical Health, but we don’t treat them the same way. The first dominant message we bring to the kids to to remove any expectation that Mental Health is only about mental illnesses. The importance of taking care of your individual mental health, and the impact that different stresses can have upon all of our fluctuating mental states is something everybody needs to take as seriously as their physical health.

Self Esteem and our individual mental health are inextricably linked. This is of the most dominant issues facing teenagers today, and body image is one of the primary stresses that impact self-esteem. Through a big pop/rap number called ‘Extrovert’, we dive into the self-worth and body-shaming issues facing one of the primary characters. By showing that even somebody seemingly happy can have struggles we can’t see on the inside, we encourage students to look out for their friends beyond what they see on the surface.

Anxiety, and anxious feelings, are perpetually misunderstood, and can drive a wedge in relationships when they’re not understood correctly. Through an insightful comedic number called ‘Anxiety Girl!’, the students hear first-hand the experiences of somebody who suffers from Anxiety, and what a panic attack feels like. We show how severe the overall mental health impact can be for those who are suffering, when their peers don’t understand the behaviour linked to anxious feelings.

The topic of depression and suicide is addressed sensitively and thoughtfully through the eyes of Andy, who struggles with bottling his emotions due to social pressures to appear masculine. Through his rock song ‘Man Up’, we see his decline as the pressure builds for him. At his lowest point, we see what actions those around him could take to help. A big rock finish with an equally powerful message ensures that the students leave the performance with a renewed look about the expectations they place on their peers.

We help the students to gain an understanding of what a mental health disorder can feel like, and the impacts it can have on your life, by firstly establishing that different people experience and interpret situations entirely differently from each other. For someone with a mental health condition, there’s not always a rational reason for a certain feeling, which can be a difficult idea to grasp. We can help students instead to relate it to feelings they will understand, to give them a stronger idea of the difficulty others face.

Whether it be normalising and encouraging our friends to seek professional help, or understanding tactics that can be used when you or a friend is having a mental health struggle, we can empower students to help each other on a social level. Each scene instills awareness of the signs and triggers they may need to look out for, and teaches tactics they can employ if they ever need it.