Living Warriors: Flux
“I never saw myself as someone that had things of value to say - being heard & getting responses from others about my words was invaluable to me.” - anon
The Story
Living Words were the lead partner on a Kent-wide FLUX in 2021/2. Flux was a series of creative arts projects that aimed to improve the mental health and wellbeing of marginalised children and young people who are at risk of self-harm, worsening mental ill health, and suicide.
The creative interventions were delivered by Kent-based cultural partners: Living Words, Gulbenkian, Community Art Kent, Ideas Test - Beats by Girls, DaBase, Dante or Die, with onsite support from mental health social and public health experts. Supervision was led by our founder Susanna Howard. From one-day workshops to six-month projects, every young person involved is worked with professional artists, with the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised Arts Award, with outcomes, projects, creations, and learnings shared at a large-scale event at a cultural institution in December.
Living Warriors: Flux, a Living Words-led project within Flux took place in our Living Warriors Library hub, celebrating and exploring LGBTQIA+ experiences of confusion, survival, self-love, and joy, with those who had experienced or thought about self-harm.
“It helped me see myself in a better light, have self- acceptance, I am happier now.”
The Films
Living Warriors: Flux shared their experiences through film, song, and spoken word with the world. The film showcasing this project premiered at The Sassoon Gallery at Folkestone Library on the 19th July 2022 as part of the project’s sharing event, where we heard from project members. It was shown at The Roundhouse as part of Beyond & Between season, as well as across Folkestone Pride 2021. The film is also part of ‘Our Screen Heritage’: a new lottery project for 2022 designed to discover, preserve, and share LGBTQIA+ films made in Kent and the South East, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and developed by Screen Archive South East in association with @queerinbrighton , @pridefolkestone and @margatepride.
Filmed in 2022, Living Words were commissioned by BBC Ideas to create a short documentary shot in our home-town of Folkestone, following the stories of Living Warriors: Flux project members. ‘Overcoming self-harm’ takes a realistic look at ways to support oneself to overcome the need to self-harm; sharing practical information and advice from people who have lived with mental health challenges, and have learned to deal with the urge to overcome self-harming behaviours within this. With unreliable statistics for self-harm because self-harm is hidden by a lot of those who do it, getting the conversation going in an accessible way can help us all.
As an ongoing partner with BBC, they continue to share this work.
