In this sixth episode of Season 3 of Doing Diversity in Writing, Bethany—Mariëlle is still on vacation—has guest clinical mental health counsellor Eric Mills on the show to discuss mental health. Together, Bethany and Eric explore mental health services, both as it might show up in our stories, and how we can help ourselves as we write. (The first half of this episode was previously published as a Part 1. This is the full and complete interview.) 

 

Here’s what we talk about:

What professionals exists in mental health services and their different roles

Some modalities of therapy and what they are used for

How writers can keep therapy scenes simple for themselves

When would an author need to do more research to write a believable situation

How to recognize when we might be having a stress response to our own topics of writing

Some approaches to supporting ourselves when engaging in topics that carry personal trauma

What we need to do when writing topics other people close to us may not want us to be writing about

And here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show:

Please write to [email protected] if you’d like more information on equine therapy. 

If you have more questions for Eric Mills, please also email the podcast at the above email and we’ll put you in touch. 

Some terms that were used in this episode: 

Clinical Psychologist

Psychiatrist (can subscribe medication) 

Clinical Mental Health Counsellor

Clinical Social Worker

Equine Therapy (horse therapy) 

Puppy Therapy

Play Therapy

Shame

Compassion Work 

Eric Mills also quoted from Quanita Roberson. You can find more about her by searching your podcast app with her name. She has appeared as a guests on several different podcasts. 

 

Promotions: 

Bethany’s Editing Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You From Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors/

Mariëlle’s Kickstarter starts October 10th! Follow it here! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mswordsmith/grow-your-creative-mindset

 

 

This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art

 

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As always, we’d love for you to join the conversation by filling out our questionnaires. 

 

Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Writer Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/UUEbeEvxsdwk1kuy5

 

Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Reader Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/gTAg4qrvaCPtqVJ36 

 

Website: https://representationmatters.art

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