Why do we need support when working within sensitive themes?

Raffaella Covino is the Founder and Director of Applause for thought and was an Actress with a career spanning 12 years. For most of her career she was a swing, dance captain and associate, working across musicals and plays in the West End, around the UK and internationally.

Applause for thought CIC was founded on 3rd February 2019 and is now a multi-award-winning community interest company that facilitates mental health; support, talks and workshops, accredited training and bespoke consultancy within the arts and entertainment industry.

Following a year of celebrities speaking out against trigger warnings, including Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, and Judi Dench, Raffaella considers the importance of putting audience care at the centre of performing arts.

The performing arts has been no stranger to exploring sensitive, emotive, and traumatic themes. But in our ever changing and evolving society - what can it look like to put support in place for those working within those themes and why do we need to?

WHO WE ARE.

Before I dive into unpacking those questions with you - a quick introduction. My name is Raffaella Covino and I am the Founder and Director of Applause for thought. We are a multi-award-winning community interest company, founded in February 2019, that facilitates mental health support, talks and workshops, accredited training and bespoke consultancy, specifically within the arts and entertainment industry. All of this was born out of my lived experience working as an Actor and Creative in theatre who also has a dual mental health disorder diagnosis.

EDUCATION EQUALS PREVENTION.

The core of who we are and what we do stems from our mantra ‘Education Equals Prevention’. Baring that in mind, I would like to go back to the opening question. The argument I hear most often against needing mental health support on productions that explore sensitive themes is;

“We have been doing this for years, why do we need it now?”

Valid point. But, we perhaps did not know then what we know now. For example; what the effects of prolonged stress on the mind and body are, or how potentially traumatising repeat exposure to certain themes can be for some, or when sensitive themes intertwine and intersect with someone’s personal life - just how painful or cathartic that can be (both can be equally dangerous.) Or how statistically we know there will be at least one person working on a production who experiences mental ill health. Now that we have that knowledge, that education, does it not feel entirely natural to want to use it to help prevent others from going through this so they can experience long, healthy and sustainable carers. Or are we still tied to the notion of needing to suffer for our art?

WHAT WE DO.

We most certainly don’t believe we should shy away from telling these stories. But we do believe that if people are being asked to push themselves to varying limits to tell them, then we have a duty of care to support them during that process. Therefore, our focus when we work with a production is to support and nurture the individuals. We want to help them feel robust, empowered, informed and safe to be able to exist within these stories whilst they do their job. We aim to achieve this through a multi-faceted package that can include but is not limited to; a group session focussing on the production’s themes and what it means to work within them, ongoing 121 support from a Production Well-being Practitioner (in our case a qualified therapist who has vast experience working within the arts.), support in the rehearsal room when staging particularly challenging scenes, dramaturgy when checking references of mental health terminology in the script, mental health risk assessments, mental health first aid training, audience messaging and resources, and bespoke resource packs.

WHY WE DO IT.

As we see the roles of intimacy co-ordinators/directors and cultural consultants becoming industry standard on productions that require it, we feel that the role of Production Well-being Practitioner (or other similar titles) should be heading in the same direction. We know from experience that people create better work, have happier working environments and are more fulfilled, engaged and committed when they feel valued at work. Mental health support can be a small piece of that puzzle. We can push ourselves to the extreme alongside stringent safety. Just like a bungee jump with all its rope checks and harnesses - they aren’t taking away from the experience; they are making it.

You can contact Applause for thought via info@applauseforthought.co.uk, and if you've any experience of positive steps towards better mental safety for audiences we'd love to hear from you.

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