Hidden LIVE was a collaboration between a vibrant group of young people, Made by Mortals, the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration (GM PSRC) and our Mental Health research team.
Our aim was to raise awareness, increase resilience and encourage conversations around mental health issues that affect young people with parents, Third Sector organisations and healthcare practitioners.
First Hidden LIVE show
The first version of Hidden LIVE was a theatre piece performed at the Royal Northern College of Music during Mental Health Awareness week in 2022.
The performance used imagination and the experiences of real people to ask the audience what they could do to help the central character, 'Adam', a young person who was about to transition from child to adult mental health services. During the show, there was an immersive listening experience of a pre-recorded podcast written and performed by the young people, as well as music they had crafted, and a live performance from the perspective of a caseworker from Children’s and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
An interactive workshop took place after the performance, which gave attendees the opportunity to come together and share their experiences, creating rich discussion about Adam and what could be done to improve his wellbeing.
Hidden: Hybrid shows
After the success of the first show, we continued working with Made by Mortals to create a hybrid show that could be performed in Greater Manchester colleges.
On World Mental Health Day 2023, the show - now called 'Hidden: Adam's Story' - was performed to 100 students at Eccles Sixth Form College. One of the show's creators, Ashgan, attended the session, taking part in valuable discussions about young people's mental health, the benefits of talking about what can often be an isolating experience, and the importance of 'having a voice' in mental health research. You can find out more about the performance and hear the opinions of some of the young people who attended, in this Made by Mortals multimedia blog.
In total we have been involved in 12 immersive performances with over 500 attendees to date.
Hidden: Interactive film
Off the back of the shows, we worked with Made by Mortals to create a widely available online resource, consisting of the interactive film and a pdf workshop guide. These can be used together to encourage young people to talk about their about mental health.
If you'd like to run a workshop with a group of young people, you can download the interactive workshop PDF guide for free and use the timed prompts to lead discussions.
