TEDx Warwick: The taboo of mental health

The taboo behind mental health needs to be lifted. This was the message from Cecilia Knapp, a performance poet and writer, who has used ‘creative self-expression’ to help heal some of the wounds from her childhood.

Speaking openly about the suicide of her older brother, she made it very clear from the beginning that this made her feel like an outsider. “It’s really easy to feel like you’re in a world where it is not okay not to be okay,” reflects the nature of what a lot of students think about, namely issues such as mental health and suicide.

It is no coincidence that suicide is the leading cause of death amongst males under the age of 25 and the waiting lists for support services, especially at Warwick, are getting longer and longer.

It’s okay to be vulnerable – if anything it’s necessary to aid the creative process

One thing that I took from her beautiful poetry was that it was okay to be vulnerable – if anything it was necessary to aid the creative process. She performed two poems, one of which was from her one-women spoken word theatre piece, Home, where she comes to terms with ideas of loss and grief.

Never has the red spot on the Butterworth Hall stage been such a poignant symbol for students of the relevance of these issues today – it was incredibly powerful.