Keeping the future in their sights

If you could describe your current mood as a weather type – such as sunny, stormy or foggy – what would it be? It might seem like an odd question, but it is warm up methods like this that create Total Insight Theatre's tight-knit community. For budding creatives Ada, 19, and Hannah, 23, it is the inclusive and inviting engagement techniques that make Total Insight's projects so worthwhile, even when they are remote.

‘The Nest’

‘The workshops are just really nice, warm environments' says Ada. She has taken part in a couple of projects with Total Insight, most recently ‘The Nest’ – a free online arts programme for those aged 18–25. This entails a series of workshops that highlight different routes into the arts, in a scheme designed to help young people break into a career that they are passionate about.

The facilitators on these projects are active in their fields, as Ada says: ‘we learnt something new each week. We had a producer, an actor, a poet, a film maker – all sorts of creative people!’ A number of students entered the workshops as actors, set on their craft completely, but after a couple of sessions with some experts they found they were also poets or rappers too.

Workshops like this have been so important over the past year, where young people may have struggled to access drama opportunities, and there has been a recorded dip in the mental health of young people throughout the lockdowns. ‘I personally found it so nice to be occupied for an hour, or an hour and a half every single day – it was something to look forward to.’ Ada says. ‘After one of ‘The Nest’'s sessions I remember telling my sister that it felt like I'd just had a really good therapy session! it sounds really weird, but it's because we're moving so much, and it gave space for us to stop and actually reflect’.

‘Crossing the Threshold’

Hannah has also taken part in a number of Total Insight's projects, and she hopes to volunteer at the charity when she is older. Recently, she participated in ‘Crossing the Threshold’ which was a virtual initiative that connected young people across England and provided them with a space to process the trauma and anxiety brought on by COVID-19. After the project, which received funding from Arts Council England's Emergency Response Fund, 94 per cent of participants who took part said it helped them process the impact of COVID-19 and boosted their wellbeing.

‘We talked about lockdown experiences, and some of the things we discussed were really difficult.’ Hannah says. ‘So, it was amazing having a facilitator that was so friendly and warm and made you comfortable in the virtual space. We talked about making the ‘safe space’, and what that would mean for everybody involved in CTT.’ The environment, as well as the content of the workshops, is a priority for course facilitators at Total Insight. One of the other anonymous participants said that this project helped them to ‘embrace change rather than fear it.’

Making the arts available to all

The arts charity has won awards for its work with children and young people, tackling important social issues through the power of theatre and creativity. Breaking down socioeconomic barriers, the charity is committed to increasing the number of children and young people benefitting from the arts.

The project leaders also come from all areas of society, ‘some went to uni, some didn't, and some dropped out of uni,’ Ada explains. ‘There is so much variety – they all come from different walks of life. It is so nice to see that there is not one route or type of person who can make it out there.’ This is a common theme in Total Insight's work – the complete breakdown of misconceptions or social stigmas on how you break into the arts industry.

The charity is not afraid to take on challenging topics. One of their upcoming projects, ‘Space Between’, is for young people tackling grief; this unique initiative is to be handled with the grace and delicacy that Total Insight Theatre prides itself on.

‘The project is a series of creative workshops for young people who have experiences of bereavement, and it includes creative writing and the spoken word,’ Hannah tells me. Especially for young people dealing with bereavement, when often it could be their first time dealing with unfamiliar emotions, it is amazing that there is a group in place to support each other and connect.

Young people helping young people

An amazing element of ‘Space Between’ is that the young people who partake in the project can also co-create a resource to help other young people who may be dealing with the same experiences. Total Insight encourages projects like this and has resources and films on their website free for others to access.

Throughout the pandemic, Total Insight Theatre collated a short verbatim film about young people's mental health, titled My Mind Matters. A collage of spoken word poetry, real interviews and a verbatim storyline, the participants didn't get to see what elements of their own creations had been used until the first screening. Hannah is just one of the young people involved in the project, and she was surprised how helpful it was to have ‘snippets of videos of a therapist with advice for young people’. She said ‘I think it was great to have, so if you relate it to anything in these videos you can follow it up as well.’

© Owen Harvey 

A young person at one of Total Insight Theatre's after-school clubs

The resources from the charity aren't just for students, as after a quick dig on their website I found tonnes of information about wellbeing, and the importance of the arts on mental health. Their blog is well worth a read, and lots of their informative videos would be well suited to the classroom.

Current and relevant work

When talking about projects like this, you might hear positive reviews here and there, but rarely do you hear such gratitude as the participants from these workshops show. Hannah wished to share a message for Total Insight's funders, saying: ‘thank you so much for funding these projects, because they've helped so many young people, including us, to really push ourselves to our best creative potential and our highest confidence’.

Now more than ever, investment in this industry is crucial, with defunding from the government being a huge issue in the sector. Accessibility is a priority for the charity, and it is clear why – Ada mentioned hearing ‘personal anecdotes of friends who couldn't do drama GCSE, because their schools just don't do it anymore’. As drama teachers know, theatre can provide a vital platform for students to develop lifelong skills, improve their mental health and gain a more well-rounded view on life, as well as share information and combat social issues as part of a community. There is so much more to the work of Total Insight that initially meets the eye; it is just amazing that in the last five years (from the time of writing this), they have engaged with 15,300 children and young people, with over 1,347 workshops and 134 performances.

Ada made a final touching comment: ‘Total insight is there to provide that ‘play’ element of drama and theatre, which we can sometimes lose when we're growing up or getting older’. We need to remember that young adults who are on the brink of leaving secondary education should not have to leave the fun creative elements of the arts behind. Initiatives like Total Insight are paving the way for the next generation of diverse creatives, at a time when we desperately need them.

www.totalinsighttheatre.com