We know mental health is a huge issue for everyone in our community right now. For mental health awareness week, we caught up with Media Arts Coordinator Chloe Plumb to find out how a Podcasting Media Arts Club project for young people has made a positive impact to support good mental health during COVID-19.
“The pandemic has had a drastic impact on young people’s lives. We know that staying at home and being indoors, with a lack of school structure, usual routines and social interaction with friends or other family members, can have a negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of those we work with.
Pre-Covid19, talented young people on our Media Arts Club Podcasting project had already begun collaborating and planning their episodes for their unique podcast ‘Twenty Twenteen’, a series written, recorded and edited by them exploring issues that matter the most to them in 2020. As soon as lockdown was announced in March, we knew we had to work quickly to transfer the project ‘online’ via Zoom workshops in order to maintain this wonderful creative collaboration.
We spoke to our young podcasters to hear how the continued online program has been a support to them during challenging times in isolation:
One member remarks that she has valued, ‘the human connection that HCA offer, a sense of belonging to a community, and the sense that our creative ideas matter. It’s given me something to look forward to in my week. It’s difficult not being able to go to places you love during this time, but creating something unique with other lovely people gives me a great deal of meaning.’
We have been so impressed by the resourcefulness, dedication and perseverance from the group to get their episodes finished whilst in isolation, joining group sessions on Zoom, working and communicating online in teams and using equipment accessible to them. It is also warming to hear that they have found the positives in this challenging situation and are building resilience skills.
Another participant has commented, ‘In many ways, the move to working from home has made this podcast more of a proactive process (testing-and-learning)…the students took more control over the process, rather than relying on the instructors to tell them what to do with their podcasts.’
We are delighted to learn that the project has brought about an opportunity for young people to stay connected with others and has promoted positive wellbeing through increased self-confidence:
‘Seriously HCA project has been the most comfortable and confident I’ve felt in a team and this has helped me gain confidence when I start at uni to work amongst others. : )’
‘I think that [these workshops] should continue because they can really help a lot of people with their mental health and can connect people more. I’ve really enjoyed participating in zoom calls as I can’t really see many other people so it’s fun to socialise and work on a project together’ ”
Check out the video here
Why not check out Twenty Twenteen podcast episodes here: Stay tuned for their episodes here – https://anchor.fm/twentytwenteen
Or follow them on twitter @TTwenteen or instagram @twenty_twenteen
#KindnessMatters #WeMakeCamden #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek
