Shining a light on Mental Health in Performance during Mental Health Awareness Week 2023.
Many young performers can find they struggle with performance anxiety, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic. As it’s Mental Health Awareness Week, and the theme this year is Anxiety, we wanted to share our favourite factsheets to help you perform with confidence, and resources to direct you to the right support.
Since Covid, there has been a rise in anxiety in general and as a creative organisation, we encourage our members to speak up and welcome the conversation around mental wellbeing,
““Being a member of NYAW was really valuable to my mental health over lockdown… Returning to an in-person residency in 2022 was an incredible experience, which definitely helped me regain a lot of the confidence that I had lost over lockdown.” ”
What is performance anxiety? What are the symptoms?
As described by Mind UK (2021) "Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. Anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations." This can result in stage fright, panic attacks, disorientation, among other symptoms.
What advice would you give someone who feels anxious about performing?
Some members found that yoga, being a meditative practice, helped them with their performance anxiety. Decompress, destress, and take a moment to look after your physical and mental wellbeing with a series of instructional yoga and meditation sessions from us here at National Youth Arts Wales, led by NYDW resident yoga tutor Jessica Jones.
What are NYAW doing to help?
NYAW takes members and staff wellbeing and mental health seriously. During residencies, NYAW has welfare staff with experience of performing on board. Alongside this, during residencies we hold yoga classes for members to attend making healthy practice part of residencies.