Can Stories Improve our Mental Health?
Storytelling is a fundamental human process for generating meaning from personal and collective experiences. When applied to health contexts, it can reduce stigma; improve understanding of health conditions and self- care strategies; and motivate critical action to improve coping and recovery. Storytelling may be particularly powerful for those who are socially isolated or may otherwise find it difficult to express themselves to others. However, a major gap exists for storytelling approaches that actively involve youth, especially those who may be disadvantaged, in design, delivery, or evaluation.
Through an interaction with the participants, this workshop showed us how our mental health stories can help dispel stigma in communities where the very act of telling these stories is stigmatised. Through examples of stories told in multimedia formats, participants worked with the facilitators to think about the building blocks of storytelling for mental health, the format of these stories, and the potential benefits or risks involved.
About the Public Engagement Specialist
Faith Gonsalves is an India-based social entrepreneur and public health storyteller with a passion for sharing stories to create social impact. Her work has focused on a range of issues including mental health, gender equity, and child rights. In 2008 at age 19, Gonsalves founded Music Basti, a non-profit education initiative that now works with more than 1000 children and youth every year through music and media programmes to build leadership and life-skills.
Gonsalves has extensive experience leading a non-profit, designing campaigns for fundraising and advocacy, and producing films and media projects. She was listed in Forbes Asia's first 30 Under 30 list for Entrepreneurship (2016) and has received awards including the Karmaveer Puraskaar National Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2011) and CNN Real Heroes Award for Youth (2011).
About the Researcher
Pattie Gonsalves is a mental health researcher whose work is focused on adolescent and youth interventions and advocacy in low-resource settings. Presently, she serves as a Project Director at Sangath, an Indian mental health research non-profit, where she leads projects related to the design and evaluation of digital mental health intervention for school-going adolescents and suicide prevention through outreach and peer-support. At Sangath, Pattie founded the ‘It’s Ok To Talk’ national anti-stigma campaign in 2016 and more recently led the set-up of a national COVID-19 free mental health counselling helpline in 2021. She is also completing her PhD in psychology at the University of Sussex UK.
