Stage Your Voice participant
Sylke
"It doesn't always have to go well for you."
- Sylke
Real conversations
"For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed helping people and I love seeing how much real conversations can yield. Real conversations can also be just low key. Just chatting about what's going on in my and her/his life. In schools there is often not really room for that. School only raises the alarm when your grades are bad. Only then does that conversation get going, but grades say so little."
"My father died when I was fourteen. After a few weeks, people stopped asking about that. Peers found it awkward, but I think most teachers also found it exciting to ask how I was doing. Think people are often afraid to hear the answer, too. What if it doesn't go well? What if she starts crying? I think there are real gains to be made there. Openness, a lower threshold to ask someone how things are going AND being able to hear the answer."
Inner struggle
"My father himself retired from life. An important reason that the topic of mental health is so close to my heart. His inner struggle was not visible to the outside world or to us as a family. Partly because of this, I feel such a great need to really look out for each other. To lower barriers, to open up and lower thresholds, to really listen and ask through."
"We have all developed a social pattern together, so we can also break that pattern together. That starts with parenting. Talk to your children and teach them that you don't always have to be in a jubilant mood. I can't say it often enough: You don't always have to be doing well, and it's okay to be open about it."
Follow Sylke on her journey to the stage!
Sylke (19) wants to make a statement about mental health with her scene. She would like people to show genuine interest in each other more often and ask questions. That socially desirable conversations are less frequent. That way serious mental problems might be prevented.
