Presentation at the Mental Health Sector (TheMHS) Conference on 31 August 2018 in Adelaide by Mark Tayar, PhD -Founder and CEO of MadStories.org. Research and animations funded by the SANE Australia Hocking Fellowship. Conference travel and registration kindly funded by a TheMHS bursary. Zero funding or support received from UNSW Australia.

1. Storytelling and Mental Health
Mark Tayar, PhD

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
This is and
always will be
Kaurna land.
I also recognize
the Gadigal of the
Eora nation.
We respect &
learn from
yarning circles
& deep listening
(dadirri)

3. MARK THE ‘MAD MAGPIE’
• PhD in education management
• Published in diversity, education
and storytelling (but not mental
health!)
• 2017-18 SANE Australia
Hocking Fellow
• Schizoaffectively disordered
(living experience of 9
diagnoses)
• Magpie is my spirit animal

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SUPPORT
Thanks Macquarie
for my floppy hat
CEO: Jack Heath
Deputy CEO:
Dr Michelle Blanchard
Director: Osher Günsberg
Thank you SANE for the Hocking
Fellowship and all your support
Thank you for recruiting
interviewees for this study
…and many others that
can’t be named as it will identify
participants.

5. VALE BARBARA HOCKING
Barbara Hocking
Thank you Barbara Hocking OAM 1947-
2016 for your leadership and legacy
Brilliant Barbara was Executive Director of
SANE Australia and was “a gracious,
passionate and principled leader who led
the organisation from 1995 to 2012.”
Thank you Dr Bruce Hocking for your
support and life with Barbara.

6. SOME CAVEATS
This presentation is based on academic research and my
own lived experience.
I am an independent researcher and my talk does not
represent the views of SANE Australia or UNSW!
Trigger warning: contains a story of suicidal ideation.

7. THE START OF MY ACADEMIC CAREER

8. SMOKING SAVES?

9. MY HOCKING PROJECT
1. Research on narrative psychology and narrative therapy in late 2017
2. Recruitment of 18 interviewees in January 2018 via sector organisations and book
authors
3. Interviews for 30-60 mins on disclosure and the benefits/challenges of storytelling
about your own lived experience
4. Additional 3-13min of free-form storytelling recorded and transcribed
5. 16 animated videos produced from the stories
6. A report and 2 conference papers prepared from research findings

10. STORYTELLING PLANNING:
A LESSON IN MARKETING?
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child
(and Prof Bob Miller AM, ex-Toyota GM)

11. STORYTELLING PLANNING:
A LESSON IN MARKETING?
Aim
Audience
Awakening
Action

12. bitly.com/madstory5

13. DISCLOSURE LEVELS
No Disclosure
• Decide not to share your story, or;
• Share your story using a pen name
or avatar
Partial Disclosure
• Share only relevant parts of your
story, and/or;
• Share only to specific audiences
Safe Disclosure
• Share your story publicly to all
audiences, and;
• Do not share information that
traumatises
Full Disclosure
• Share all details of your story even
if they retraumatise yourself or
others
• Not recommended

14. WITH DISCLOSURE COMES STIGMA
• ‘Stigma’ in Ancient Greece referred to a sign burnt into someone’s body to show
they were a slave, criminal or traitor (Goffman, 2009).
• Social stigma is an unjust influence on consumers which limits opportunities to
work, live independently, and pursue other goals (Corrigan, 2005)
• Stigma can be internalised as ‘self-stigma’
• RQ:
How can stigma be reduced through storytelling?

15. REDUCING STIGMA
Telling
diverse and
true stories
Safe
disclosure
 Stigma

16. OTHER THINGS TO REDUCE STIGMA
• Comedy – doesn’t have to be self-deprecating (see Nannette)
• Creativity – e.g. MadNarrative.org nonprofit collective artists, actors and writers
• Increasing visibility – speaking bureaus like Voices for Change or Being’s forthcoming
bureau, SANE Peer Ambassadors
• #auspol advocacy
• Storytelling doesn’t have to be public (especially for introverts or private people) – it can
be everyday disclosure to people you trust (carers: please get permission to disclose but
remember it is partly your story too)
• Research – “we don’t have baseline measures of current stigma for complex mental illness”
Dr Michelle Blanchard (and ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’)

17. STIGMA AND DISCLOSURE:
THE SAME SIDE OF THE SAME COIN?
Image: madnarrative.com
Janus – Roman God
of beginnings, gates,
transitions, time,
duality, doorways,
passages, and endings

18. COME OUT OF THE
MENTAL ILLNESS CLOSET
I'm coming out
I want the world to know
Got to let it show
…
The time has come for me
To break out of the shell
I have to shout
That I'm coming out

19. CAN’T HEAR THE WHISPER?
ALT: HEAR THE ROAR AND ROAR BACK
Ask people their stories
Listen deeply
Tell your authentic stories

20. ROUND-TABLE YOUR STORY
Round-tabling means:
• No reserved seating
• No head of the table
• Lead but also be a fellow
“A brave man slowly wise
– thus I hail my hero.”
Wolfram Von Eschenbach

21. Photo credit (used with permission):
instagram.com/cambloom
“My wing may be
damaged
but I can still fly.”
- Me, March 2018

22. THANK YOU AND
#WEARITPURPLE!madstories.org