Kieran, from Real Life Media Productions, is currently working on a programme for the Government funded educational channel, Teachers TV.

The programme is about increasing awareness of adolescent mental health issues among teachers, how to spot the symptoms, how to react and when to refer. The purpose of the case study is to show the important impact and influence of teachers.

Kieran is looking for a young person who has personal experience of self-harm, who has a story to tell about the influence of a teacher / teachers at school. For example a teacher may have been the catalyst for the person to seek help, or a teacher could have reacted in a way that made the problem worse, and the person less likely to ask for help. They will also want to talk about when they started self-harming, why, how it made them feel and if / how they asked for help.

The programme is going to be a briefing for teachers on some the most common mental health issues suffered by children and young people; what the warning signs of a problem may be in how their behaviour manifests itself in school, and the importance of responding in an appropriate way.

The majority of filming would be interview based, but if agreed with the individual they may also film a sequence of them doing something visual (making tea, sitting down to watch tv – just for a few seconds of visuals to break up the interview). This is of course all down to what the contributor is happy with.

The amount of time involved would be a maximum of two hours, although it will probably be less.

The production team are based in Leeds, and will also be travelling to London as part of the programme. But they are still interested to hear from people in other locations as they may be willing to travel.

Although Kieran hasn’t stated as such, I would assume that any young person volunteering for this project would need parental/guardian consent.

Please email Jules@FirstSigns.org.uk if you are interested or have any question.

Thank you