Beating anxiety through drumming
Hi, my name is Amy and I'm a counsellor that has set up a project called Totally Flawed .
Totally Flawed delivers fun and interesting creative courses to help inform people about mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
This service provides an alternative way of understanding and easing conditions like anxiety, whilst learning a creative, fun skill in a relaxed atmosphere. It also takes away the element of fear that’s often felt when thinking about visiting a counsellor.
Our first course, Off Beat , is an 8-week set of introductory drumming workshops. Each workshop will be taught by professional drummers, and a counsellor will be on-hand to help with both the teaching of the workshops, and to give information on the support available for mental health issues, should participants need it.
Students will learn everything from how to hold sticks to basic drum patterns. They’ll also learn about how to recognise anxiety, where it sits within the body, and how to use the drums to counter it.
I’ll use any money raised to provide equipment for these courses and to provide free places for those who can’t afford to pay for them. I’ll go on to use any additional funds to start a bursary scheme so that subsidised counselling sessions can be provided for students who feel that they need to seek counselling, but can't afford to.
The inspiration for this project came from some of the mental health challenges I developed as a teenager, which I had no understanding of at the time. It was only in my 30s I realised that if I’d received better guidance or understanding, much of my shame, fear and loneliness
would have been eased. I could also have learned some vital skills to help me to manage my illness.
Working in the music industry for over 10 years, I recognise how prevalent these issues are for young people today. However, finding counselling still proves so difficult because of the expense of private counselling, and because of the long waiting lists, the NHS has for its mental health services.
Totally Flawed will help people to learn a new skill whilst addressing and easing some of their mental health issues.
I really appreciate any support you can give me to help with this project.
