Drugs & Harm Reduction in the Creative Industries

Another part of the Ulster paper talks about the drug and alcohol use and in some case abuse, in some case to deal with pressure as a form of escape and in some cases in pursuit of of the creative output.

DBS Berlin produced a series of videos in a pursuit to talk about the topic of Drugs and Harm Reduction with their students. The major overarch conversation was actually being able to have the converastion. Many dont want to discuss drugs in particular due to legal reasons but also due to stigma that may be attached to having an issue with either substance. The fact that the university is pushing to open dialogue about the issue feels like a good step in the right way as it allows students to be able to understand the issues behind being a creative before they reach the industry where these problems can become more impactful on their life and health. A big takeaway of the videos is the fact that there isnt really any public space wwhich is sturctured that allows people to seek help from within the creative community and therefore can make creatives feel more isolated from colleagues.

The Story Behind The Creative Link – Mental Health and The Arts (Video)

A new startup project looking to create a social platform to connect creatives, this project is looking to connect creatives to help each other find jobs, improve portfolios and to discuss topics such as mental health. Joellah Olivia is the person behind the project, having suffered from mental health issues herself, Joellah uses this experience behind her to guide the mission of the project. Although skeptical behind the success of the project as there are many alternatives, the project does highlight the need for young creative to connect not only the professional reasons but also for an empathetic approach to dealing with mental health

Mental Health in the Fashion and Creative Industries Panel Discussion (Video)

A roundtable panel discussion from the UCL university, although mainly focused on the fashion industry they consider the industry as whole as well. On the panel was Karen Franklin who made a couple of very poignant points.

Franklin makes the point that there are many who probably do not feel qualified or safe enough to talk about the subject, with such big names suffering from the same problem and starting to talk about it there can be a feeling of feeling as if you problem is somewhat lessened by not being a big name.

Franklin mentioned how Kate Moss opened up about even at a young age she was coerced into more adult photoshoot. This thought process i feel can be expanded further when we consider how graduates and interns are treated when they enter the industry, and equally how they are prepared for industry. Its often a case of looking down at interns and Graduates however are we expected a brand new designer to be able to produced the same amount of work as another designer who has 20+ years experience or even expect new designers to have more skills than whats actually taught on the courses.

Time to Talk: Mental Health and the Creative Mind – 5 Minute Interview

A short interview with Renee van der Vloodt, if im totally honest the content is thin in this video as is short but tries to cover a lot of different topics. This is something that i do need to consider as the video essay will need to show all the content within 12 mins and should be a well considered research. A point that Van der Vloodt does say is that society as a whole doesn’t really understand creatives and needs to start to understand how to nurture creatives but also more importantly why society needs creatives and divergent thinking. In terms of problem solving creatives are best deployed as the solution to many complex issues require a level of not only divergent thinking but empathetic research, both of these are something creatives are capable of.

How creativity and mental illness are linked (video)

A news styled video produced by Discovery news. This video explores and shows evidence behind the linked between Creativity in general and mental illness. What is really important in this video is that the video presents information about the physical effect on the brain, depression and thinking creatiively both trigger the same part of the brain. It also presents the casr that creative people actually need more stimuli in their thinking process in order to think more creatively. However this can spark a case of overthinking. Creatives who work in the creative industry are paid to overthink however when this comes home then it can cause issues.