Campaign puts spotlight on mental health of female performers

A NEW wellbeing campaign set up by a city playwright aims to explore issues affecting female performers as part of a unique mental health support service.

The campaign will feature on a website called CoFuddle, and will use real-life stories to create short films for its online community to share and discuss, including feedback from health professionals.

Helen Jeffery, whose work includes The Brink, Gun Metal Blue, and an acclaimed adaptation of Macbeth with Daniel Taylor Productions, has teamed up with singer/ songwriter Nicola Hardman, the founder of We Want Women, to work together and create events for participants to confidentially share their thoughts.

The aim is to tailor a supportive community for female creatives and provide an outlet to talk about their problems and experiences in the industry.

Helen will use these discussions as a basis for a series of fictional monologues, that will be made available on CoFuddle as stories and short films to inspire wider discussion, including professional advice from therapists, counsellors and specialists.

“Nearly everybody we know at some point in their lives will have a mental health problem, and the NHS is so stretched,” Helen says. “We wondered, is there a way to support people before it gets to that point?”

The campaign will be, she stresses, a first port of call for those looking for support, not a replacement for seeing a doctor. “Sometimes it is not about needing treatment as such, but having a non-judgemental space to talk. We wanted to develop the mental health side because there’s been such a call for it.”

So they began by getting a group of female performers together to share their experiences of the industry and the things that have had negative effects their mental health.

Overwhelmingly, issues of sexualisation and body image were prevalent. Other things like financial difficulties, loneliness, and finding success in male-dominated fields also came up.

It was an idea that appealed to singer-songwriter Nicola Hardman, the founder of We Want Women. The only female-focused open mic night of its kind in Liverpool, the night has been running for three years and is currently based at The Scholar on Roscoe Street. Nicola is also training to be a counsellor and has been involved in women’s projects in Indonesia that have inspired her work.

“Women’s rights have always been a big interest and passion of mine and I just wanted to make a difference,” she says. “It makes me hopeful and it’s great there’s so many female performers.

“When you start thinking about it, why is it there are fewer opportunities for women – maybe it’s that they are home of an evening with children, or low in self-confidence, or struggling being a female performer on an all-male bill where people talk all through your set – we still have a long way to go before getting that equality and that respect.”

CoFuddle and We Want Women will be holding another sharing circle event for female performers on February 8, to give women a space to talk about issues affecting them in the industry. Or if you’d like to share a story and remain anonymous, or can’t make the workshop, you can still contribute via CoFuddle’s website. The venue is yet to be confirmed, but keep an eye on @cofuddle on Instagram for the latest information or contact Helen on there or Twitter @errohemi. Helen has also set up a body image survey that can be completed online.

“It’s about celebrating and sharing opportunities for women and giving them the space to talk, getting people feeling like they’re not alone,” Helen says.

“Making a movement and bringing women together, and that’s how we can make things change – by turning a minority into something significant,” Nicola adds. “CoFuddle is a really great idea and something that is very needed.”

The next We Want Women night takes place on January 31 and will feature acts including Succour Punch Theatre and composer Meike Holzmann. WWW is also holding a fundraiser at Blackburn House on International Women's Day (Friday, March 6), with more details to be confirmed.