How art helps me through tough times

Posted Friday 23 September 2011

This is a guest video blog by Ed and Kate Rosie on how the creative arts have helped Kate Rosie cope with her depression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAqUIaBhhiY

Ed says: I wanted to create a film that was both moving and uplifting, whilst also confronting a complex subject that has affected me personally.

People in my family have experienced mental health problems as has a close friend of mine. Over the years, this has got me thinking about how people view mental health problems so negatively, the public’s perception of mental illness in general and how my mother's positive way of dealing with things has challenged those stereotypes.

Given that mental health is so often stigmatised and widely misunderstood, my film aims to portray my mother’s difficulties but with a distinctly positive outlook. It shows how my mother focused her energy on her art to help stimulate her mind in a way that makes her illness easier to live with.

I'm thrilled that Mind has got behind the film with such positivity and I look forward to making more over the next year or so. I hope you enjoy it. 

Kate says: My son, Ed, has grown up knowing that depression has had a real bearing on my life, and therefore it has impacted on him and his sisters. 

When he first approached me with the idea of bringing the issue to the forefront by producing a video, it was rather daunting, yet also liberating.

Once I agreed, it was easy for me to talk about the positivity of having a pastime, like art, to help me through some of those dark periods in my life, which were very much about grief.

I hope that by sharing my experience it will help anyone suffering from depression to see that having an interest, in a practical sense, can help you through some really tough times. It can be something as simple as going for a walk, and it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.

Taking very small steps to begin with is far better than trying to achieve too much too soon.

There is no doubt that Mind as an organisation creates opportunities to encourage and maintain a supportive role for all those who come into contact with them. 

Ed & Kate Rosie

Visit Mindful, an exhibition and festival at the Old Vic Tunnels celebrating mental health and creativity in aid of the Mind creative therapies fund.

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2 Comments

• Just B replied on 23 Sep 2011 at 16:36

  I really liked the video. I have also used painting as a way to express myself and try and work through things, im proud of my work, and even though my paintings blatantly show inner turmoil, and distress, im not ashamed for people to see them. If anything, its easier for people to get their heads round, that i feel like that, rather than me actually telling them and them not knowing what to say. This is a great topic. Keep up the video making.

• gez replied on 25 Sep 2011 at 16:14

  The video was great.I to have begun using art and doing other crafts at a support group. I feel able to relax and for a time all the worries I have goes. Just finishing a painting can make you feel you can do something postive again. creative or not arts can realy help on the road to recovery.