Together with the Institute of Psychoanalysis, and in association with the PRCA and the APPC, Nikki da Costa will be launching a fund to provide high quality initial support to young people in the public affairs industry on World Mental Health Day, Monday 10th October.
The Public Affairs sector is stimulating and highly rewarding, but it’s also challenging, mentally demanding, and highly pressured. And for many this takes its toll. According to the PRCA and PR Week, 1 in 3 in the PR industry have suffered from mental ill health, yet, less than half of us would be comfortable talking about our mental health with a colleague or line manager.
Motivated by her own experiences, and of those around her, da Costa wanted to do something to address this and has pledged to commit 10% of her profits each year to mental health: to reduce the stigma and to help young practitioners access the best mental health provision possible, without ending up on a long NHS waiting list.
On the night of the launch event, the Clinic will explain a little more about the support on offer, there will be a panel discussion with psychoanalyst Professor John Cohen, expert on burnout, as well as with industry representatives, and an opportunity to explore the issue and what more we can do as an industry.
To attend the launch event, taking place at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in London between 18.15 and 20.00, please register here.
From October 2016 Public Affairs practitioners, under the age of 35, listed either on the PRCA Public Affairs and Lobbying Register or the APPC register, will receive help accessing mental health support. The fund will initially subsidise the cost of psychoanalytic consultations with the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis for up to 10 practitioners in need.
The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis is the clinical arm of the British Psychoanalytical Society and Institute of Psychoanalysis and, as a charity since 1926, has been making it possible for many people to have access to psychoanalysis.
Usually costing £120 and £80, the initial consultation sessions arranged by the Clinic will instead be offered at a reduced rate of £30 and £20.
The consultations offer a chance to talk about what has brought the individual to consider seeking support, and to get an idea of what analytic treatment is like. At the end of the sessions, the individual and the consulting analyst will discuss next steps, bearing in mind the nature of the difficulties discussed, the practicalities of having treatment and what is affordable.
If psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy are a good option, they would be referred to an analyst in private practice, or possibly a low-fee analysis in the Clinic.
Psychoanalysis usually consists of four or five sessions per week, while psychoanalytic psychotherapy takes place between one and three times per week, and so is less intensive, and is based on the same principles as psychoanalysis.
These forms of treatment facilitate a genuine, deep and thoughtful exploration and understanding of what lies beneath the surface of everyday psychological difficulties and problems. If you don’t really know what the underlying problems are, you can’t really think about them – psychoanalysis helps to ‘make that which was unconscious, conscious’ (Freud). Being able to think over time in a trusting and confidential relationship allows painful difficulties and feelings to be faced up to and understood.
If a different form of support would be more suitable, the Clinic will help direct the individual to a qualified and reputable organisation. Key is that they will receive assistance navigating the maze of mental health provision.