In 2016, Behind the Scenes was approached by a concerned individual, Karen Sherman, who was seeing too many of her colleagues dealing with depression and substance misuse. She wanted to find a way to encourage individuals to seek counseling at the start of problems, before they became a crisis and, in an expansion of its mission, the BTS Counseling Fund was created to help ease the financial burdens associated with seeking treatment.
6 comments:
This is super important to me. I think as an industry there's this idea of working and working and never stopping. But stopping at some point is so incredibly important. We can take a sick day, but feel like we're "cheating" when we need a mental health day. I know when I was struggling with my mental health, I have no idea what I would have done if those I was collaborating with didn't understand my limits. These kinds of training are not a waste of time and truly should be required for everyone. Especially in an industry that's so intense. We so often have time limitations and additional stresses that make things really hard to deal with, and we need some way to manage and mediate that. I also think the fact that Behind the Scenes did a survey is a really important aspect of this story. They could have just launched this without the research behind it, but I don't think it would have been nearly as effective as it will be with the research backing it up. I truly think that, as an industry, we're moving towards inclusivity and welcoming, even though we have a long way to go still.
As Elena D mentioned above, the theater is a very demanding industry in which professionals pursuing this career work extremely hard. Even as a student, I have felt extreme amounts of stress and anxiety already (and I am only a freshman!), and sometimes find myself reminding myself to sleep and eat. This is also a career in which you present very vulnerable elements of yourself, and rejection (which is a huge element of being a theatrical artist. This is an incredibly important conversation to be opening up, as so many people struggle with maintaining a healthy mindset and mental state. Through this basic training program, effective ways to be allies for your cow workers and friends when they find themselves struggling. This is also a great resource if you find yourself struggling. Overall, I think in order to be a great artist you have to be honest with yourself and constantly evaluate your own personal mental state in order to create powerful work.
The thing that I believe is missing from the list of goals is “Changing the culture regarding substance abuse.” Many people in this industry turn to substances, illegal and legal, doctor prescribed and not, as a way to cope with their mental health. This often leads to major tragedy (re: Heath Ledger), and raises lots of conversations about how we need to do better. But part of how we do better is stop glorifying and idolizing this “work hard, party harder” mentality. I know it’s a cliché and most of you are going to groan at me saying this, you don’t need alcohol to relax and have fun. You can stop after one drink. You can say no and be cool. If you feel like you have to get black out drunk every weekend to deal with the stress of your work something is wrong, and if you see your friends being black out drunk every weekend—something is wrong! Perhaps they mean to address this with “Changing the culture regarding mental health” but I think “Changing the culture regarding substance and alcohol abuse” is a more explicit and therefore better way to put it. After all, you can’t tell something is wrong until you stop glorifying alcohol.
This is an important article! I think this stems beyond theatre and the entertainment industry. So often people in other fields also self-medicate with alcohol and drugs to cope with the stress and mental strain their work puts on them. It is a problem that should be addressed. Like Jess said, if your coworkers every weekend are drinking to relax and forget the stress of the week, that is hugely problematic. I think that a lot of these problems of either self-medicating, or just ‘pushing through’ the mental strain and illness could be alleviated with better mental health education. I feel that if we knew the signs, and could pick them out while they are arising in our personality, we could then start to work on ourselves and get the proper help needed. Granted, this also requires access to health care which is a huge debate on its own. Nevertheless, I am glad this article is working to educate and give the resources to those who truly need it.
I remember hearing about this a couple weeks ago and I'm glad this is gaining some traction. I agree with Jess' notion about changing the culture behind substance abuse rather than just trying to get rid of it. The amount of times I've heard career stage managers or company managers say things like, "the only way we get through 8 shows a week is by going to the bar", is a lot, but I don't necessarily think its the worse thing. I think its something that creates a sense of bonding and friendship between people that work in theater. It starts becoming an issue when its simply people drinking to just drink themselves to sleep or something of that caliber. Overall, the creation of this study will do monuments in terms of the conversation that surrounds and leads ideas of mental health and substance abuse in a theatrical and entertainment setting.
I love that BEHIND THE SCENES is taking that extra step to get in front of mental illness before it's too late. Mental health is such an important thing that often gets pushed aside and not prioritized as it should be. In theatre, artists are constantly working day and night; it's easy to forget when you need to rest. In theatre, artists are constantly delving deep into their innermost thoughts and emotions to be able to portray the proper character on stage. In all walks of life, it's important to put your mental health at the top of the list, but in theatre, I feel like it is so easy to not notice when things have just gone too far and you need extra help as opposed to catching it before it gets too bad. I'm glad that there is a program starting up to help professionals care for their mental health as well as physical health.
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