Mentoring and Mental health for parents and children.
This pandemic has hit us all in so many ways. In terms of my family, I feel we have been very fortunate to have not lost any loved ones, or to have been left financially out of pocket. I often think about the people that have lost their jobs or are worrying about paying their rent or mortgage. I can imagine it has brought a lot of stress.
Everything is relative they say and in terms of my M.A., there is no doubt that it has affected my project. I’ve documented this before in past posts but I do want to underline the fact that I’ve had to change my approach. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the challenge but on the odd day, I’ve felt like deferring my course or just throwing the proverbial towel in. It’s been hard but I keep punching away.
The impact on mental health is already providing some insights into what this pandemic has done for a lot of us. The last few months at work have been incredibly challenging. I huge struggle at times. Not so much for the mental health impact on myself but for others around me. Some of my students found the whole experience incredibly hard and I had a lot of young people who became very emotional, this has obviously had an after effect on my own mental health.
A couple of weeks ago, I hear of a story in the news about an incident at my local park in Chalkwell. It was also plastered all over my social media residency groups. It involved a man in a tree that refused to come down. In the end emergency services were called and there ended up being a large contingent of them that were sent to try and talk the man out of the tree.
To this day, the police as of yet not released any other information about this ‘man in the tree’. He is however believed to have been suffering from mental health problems. I can only hope that he is on his way to recovering.
My mind kept returning to the hateful spite and vitriol that I had read. How could people be this so mean spirited? How had these people kept these views in times like this, when the world is calling for Unity and togetherness. Is there a way in which we can change perspectives?
To this day, the police as of yet not released any other information about this ‘man in the tree’. He is however believed to have been suffering from mental health problems. I can only hope that he is on his way to recovering. My mind kept returning to the hateful spite and vitriol that I had read. How could people be this so mean spirited? How had these people kept these views in times like this, when the world is calling for Unity and togetherness. Is there a way in which we can change perspectives?
Below the abhorrent posts.
All of these ideas seemed to be coinciding with stories that I was reading to my son. He is 3 now and absolutely transfixed with books and breaths in every word and picture he sees. As I went to sleep that I night, I envisaged my son seeing this man in the tree and imagined how he would react to it. What would mine or my Wife’s responses have been should he have asked any questions about it. This set me on the idea of a short story about a young boy asking his Mother why the man was in the tree. How would she deal with his questions? Would she bat them away as most parents, hoping that the problem would go away? What if the child sees this man in the tree and is intrigued as to why he’s up there? I’ve started writing a short story in relation to what happened in Chalkwell Park.
I have created some initial drawings / illustrations and some basic narrative to drive my ideas forward.
Is there a way we can teach parents how to mentor their children to provide a positive and demonstrative way in which to deal with mental health?
This could be a very positive step forward in what I want to accomplish for my M.A. It encapsulates many things that are important to me, including my son, mentoring and providing positive change for our new world.
First initial drawings
What's next?
I intend to explore and research into children mental health, not only through this crisis but other issues that affect children's well-being when they may have witnessed trauma. I also want to explore further collaborations with illustrators. I'm not sure I will have the time or capacity to construct the exact mood and illusion I want for my end product. I also don't want to drown in the aesthetics, rather than what I want to achieve from this process.
It will be important for how this project develops in what connections I make to stakeholders and gatekeepers. i.e. mental heath charities. Some of my research and unit work has already established some key areas for me to examine.
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