Maria Shaw and ‘Breaking the Silence’ committee members are encouraging the Orange community to engage in their upcoming live streamed online concert, as it promotes awareness surrounding mental health.

Partnering with the Orange Regional Conservatorium, Dudley Private Hospital and the Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health, the concert aims to smash the stigma around talking about mental health and encouraging those suffering to seek help early.

After a well- loved member of the Orange Regional Conservatorium (ORC) passed away, Maria Shaw took it upon herself to ‘continue the conversation’ with her ORC family. “It greatly affected the ORC community, and it felt like that was where the conversation was going to end,” said Maria. “After seeing the effects on the staff members, I felt like that should change, if we had more ongoing conversations, about depression or mental health, that it might just change and/or help someone.

So was born, Breaking the Silence Orange. The event will be the first of its kind and will take place on World Mental Health Day which is October 10 this year and is set to become an annual event.

“The theme for this year’s concert is ‘Uplifting’,” said Maria. “We felt like it was most appropriate because we all need that boost right now. We had also planned a more extensive program, but because of COVID everything has changed a little. We’ve been so fortunate as we have been funded by Dudley Hospital, they are covering the costs of the musicians and live streaming and the ORC has donated us the space to use.”

You can expect to hear from talented local musicians, including Ricky Ah See playing the Didgeridoo, the musicians will then speak about their pieces, and they may share their personal experiences. We will also have Centre for Rural & Remote Mental Health Coordinator; Dianne Gill, give an address and more or less MC the event. They are a great organisation which are able to direct people to various different services.”

“It was really important for us to have local musicians playing because this is all about connecting with community.”

Maria continued, “Art can be confrontational, and music can be confrontational, but it also can be a way of connecting that’s not as aggressive. I guess that’s why I see it as a conversation starter, it’s certainly not the end of the conversation but it’s a chance for you to say, it’s okay to be feeling these things, using something like music really breaks the ice.

“It’s also about, being able to talk to your friends and say, ‘I’ve noticed a difference in you, are you okay? have you thought about getting help?’ It’s got to be about how you support them and what’s next in getting help. I, myself have suffered through mental health issues. My husband greatly encouraged me to get help, and I don’t think that, without that push, I would’ve. For a long time, I felt like I was on my own with it.

“Getting help wasn’t easy but I have begun to learn the skills to help. Life has been a lot better since I got help. So, I want to raise awareness and inform others about what options are out there and to encourage them to seek that help.

“If the stigma is taken away, those suffering have got the potential of talking and opening up to multiple people about it. The aim is for them to know, ‘You are not alone, other people experience mental health issues as well, you’re not on an island by yourself, you’re in a supportive community.’”

“I think also too, with the live streamed event, there’s something nice about it being accessible from wherever you are in the community, you can watch it with who you like.

“We encourage organisations to jump on board and show it potentially at aged care facilities. Just making sure we are including all of the community.

“My husband has been organising the musicians so that’s been great, he just loves to perform and he said musicians have been itching to perform during COVID, it’s nice to be able to give them the opportunity to do what makes them happy.”

The event will be an hour-long live stream from 6:30pm on Saturday 10th on the Breaking the Silence Orange Facebook page. If you do miss out on the live version the video will be available at a later date on the Conservatorium page.

In the meantime the BTSO committee encourage you to follow along with their Facebook page as they have weekly updates and are dedicated to debunking mental health myths!

“In the lead-up to this concert, we will be posing a new question relating music to mental health and 2020's concert theme, we will share conversations on listening to music to hype you up, energize you, pull you out of sadness and loneliness and inspire you to take that next step.”

The team will also host a walk-through Dudley Hospital looking at what services they provide. Maria added, “I think some people have the media perception of what mental health units look like, and it’s not the old archaic 50’s scary look, it’s important to know the truth regarding the facilities and what they can do to help.”

“Seeing it all come together is great, its nerve wracking because I always feel like I’m forgetting something,” laughed Maria. “But we’ve had a really good support team and it really shows how a sense of community is so important. That feeling that people have your back is such a great feeling.”