Tuesday, May 4, 2010

At Long Last...

...the interview uploading begins!

Many many thanks to everyone who participated in this phase of the interview process.

I may be conducting subsequent interviews in the future so if you're interested after getting a sense of what this project is about after hearing some of these brave and articulate stories, please get in touch with me: anniewrobinson(at)gmail(dot)com

Keep checking back as the interviews will be posted one at a time over the next few weeks.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Update

Interviews are underway! I'm going to wait a while to finalize and upload them, so there will be a chorus of voices instead of just a handful. I'm also still taking on interviewees - so don't hesitate to reach out if you're interested!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Vision Statement

WHAT

Mad Students Speak Up is an oral history project documenting first person students’ experiences with mental health and psychic difference. At the core of the project is a belief in the transformative “tool” of stories – telling your own or learning from others’ – for individual healing, self-development, and the hope of affecting change on a widespread scale.

WHY

Driving my interest in this topic lies my personal exposure to the trials and tribulations involved in attaining and maintaining ‘mental health’ – a term I use loosely, for though my journey may have ties to the mainstream psychiatric model, it expanded into a pursuit of wellbeing and selfhood.

This undertaking expands on my undergraduate concentration at Gallatin (the School for Individualized Study at NYU), which was entitled “Stories of Self: Realization, Empowerment, and Wellbeing.” The human capacity and proclivity to tell our stories proves to be a resource not only for individual healing and self-development but also promises the hope of affecting change on a much larger scale. There exists a critical relationship between narrative and power: those voices which are least likely to be heard, such as those speaking to issues of gender, sexuality, and mental health, are often invalidated and suppressed by discriminatory social politics. Yet they are often also those most needing expression. One’s health, be it mental, emotional, or physical, is risked when individual’s voices are silenced and their stories turned over to a social system.

HOW

I am recording students’ stories on digital audio and putting excerpts of the segments on a web page. I hope to engage a diverse spread of students, who feel connected to these issues for a multiplicity of reasons – be they aspiring mental health professionals, artists whose intense emotional experiences have compromised their wellness but simultaneously have afforded them tremendous creativity, or just students willing to share their tumultuous navigation seeking support for their mental anguish from the school’s wellness center, friends, family, or other communities. I am reaching out to men and women, in any age range, with varied economic and cultural backgrounds, and members of all sorts of communities.

If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please contact me at anniewrobinson(at)gmail(dot)com.