Mental health in York: The courses helping hundreds to recover

Stepping through the door was the most difficult moment, Richard remembers.

He had been at a low point, plagued by a feeling of losing control of his life since being taken into hospital care for psychosis, depression and anxiety.

So when Richard found himself hesitating at the doorway of a music course run by Converge at the University of York St John, the temptation to turn around and head home was overwhelming.

“I had become very ill,” Richard, 35, said, “I was with the early intervention team in York and someone told me about Converge.

“The first time I went to choir I was really nervous because I wasn’t myself. I was anxious, panicked, the opposite of what I am now. Going through the door was the hardest thing.”

Richard did make it into the class, and has since become one of Converge’s many success stories. He’s now a mentor for some of the 140 people attending the courses at the university, which offers high quality classes including theatre, dance, music and writing, to people who access mental health services.

Richard’s confidence levels are now so improved that he has gone from being someone who would have shied away from even talking to new people to confidently performing on stage at York Theatre Royal with a theatre company.

“In the first ever session I thought I might not come back, but I did, and I eventually realised it was me and my fears that were holding me back,” Richard said.

“When I overcame those and realised there were like-minded people who had been through the same things, I became relaxed and my mental health improved.

“I didn’t know I had a creative bone in my body. It brought out my aspirations and gave me goals in my life which had been spiralling out of control.

“Converge has given me a voice, given me a platform to express myself to the best of my ability.”

The relatively simple concept behind Converge means university students are offered work-based experience teaching alongside staff on the campus.

Converge was the idea of associate professor Dr Nick Rowe (pictured above). Speaking in offices overlooking the campus gardens, he explains that the rooms are offered through in-kind funding from York St John and other support comes from the city’s mental health trust, Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust, and the Igen Trust.

While recovery and uniting people who may have previously felt marginalised or excluded in society may be an outcome, the focus is on learning.

“As a model we focus on the education of students,” he said, “We don’t give primacy to the problem, we give primacy to the learning.

“But we know through learning and through being in our courses it will raise aspirations for the future, it builds hope, people build new social connections and develop confidence.

“The university itself, the environment, is giving the message that you’re valued.”

His colleague Matt Harper-Hardcastle reiterates this.

“They are not clients or service users; anyone who comes here are students.

“We’re here to learn, we’re not here to talk about mental health or how are you doing on a scale of one to ten, there’s none of that.”

Downstairs, in a room near the university library, Pat, 37, is another Converge success. She admits the idea that she is a university student still surprises her. Having struggled at school, and then with her mental health for many years, Pat had been diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder brought on by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But she has made considerable progress, having discovered a talent and passion for music.

“I was struggling to get out of home, I kept myself to myself, I had a really big trust issue with people and I wasn’t one for engaging,” she said, “I liked my own company, I felt safe. The more I did that, the worse I got.

“I’d always loved music but I ignored it because I didn’t think I was good enough but Converge has got that out of me. I’m now doing all sorts.

“It was great because nobody judged me. I always thought I wasn’t good enough and I was so used to saying that, but when I came here everyone gives you so much positivity. You don’t have to be great, but what you do is good enough. It gave me a drive to move forward. I love being a mentor. For me it’s a way of saying thank you to the very people who have helped me by giving something back. It’s also given me an idea of what I want to do when I go into employment.

“It’s great being on a campus because you feel part of it. When people say ‘what do you do?’ I can say, I’m a student.”

Converge volunteers and coordinators are pictured above.

It’s a similar story for Brian, a member of Out of Character Theatre company.

“Ordinary students say university is the best years of their lives, but I think the process of education does that for anyone.

“I know for myself that it’s certainly improved my mental health. Rather than being home all day, you have something meaningful to do.

“The social aspect is incredibly important. The alternative is staying at home watching telly and listening to the radio. That might seem appealing but it’s a bit soul-destroying at the same time.

“A lot of health professionals, I feel, write us off. But the students don’t.”

- Richard’s name has been changed at his request.

TICKETS are on sale for Out of Character Theatre's production of Retail Therapy!

The satirical show promises to explore the connection between sales and sanity and the link between craziness and consumerism through a series of entertaining short sketches, songs and monologues.

"From the secret lives of shelf stackers to the high cost of living this show turns everything on its head," the acclaimed theatre company says, "Whilst designer babies and alternative husbands can be bought on Black Friday we also encounter the real testimonies of what happens when Mental Health care is also put up for sale. Does everything, including psychiatric hospitals, really have to go…?"

Retail Therapy! will be staged at York St John University Quad South Hall, at 7pm on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8. Tickets are £5.

To buy tickets, visit http://store.yorksj.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/conferences-events/events/retail-therapy-performed-by-out-of-character