IGODAP Up Close with Victoria Maxwell

My disability, bipolar disorder (which has included psychosis and generalized anxiety disorder) has (as cliché as it sounds) given me my greatest opportunities and most difficult challenges. Without mental illness, I would not be doing what I’m doing. And ironically my illnesses, which in the early stages severely limited and derailed my life, now free and liberate me. Because of disability I’ve created a very flexible life, have an incredibly rewarding creative career and daily opportunities to celebrate what I used to find shameful.

My work centres on disclosing my lived experience of mental illness (using lots of humour – usually irreverent and self-deprecating). I tour several one woman stage shows and present workshops  focusing on psychiatric disability and recovery at conferences in different cities, mainly around North America. I am also very involved with the collaborative research team CREST.BD which studies a variety of issues in bipolar disorder in very innovative ways. My newest play: ‘That’s Just Crazy Talk’ about stigma and family is being studied to see what impact lived experience in person theatrical pieces has on mental health issues.  

 

 

 
Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Directly from what I call my ‘escapades with bipolar disorder’ - from acceptance of the diagnosis, returning to work, dating, being a child of a parent with a mental illness and the legacy of family secrets.


How could IGODAP assist you to achieve your artistic goals?

I think anything that helps us get our work out to a broader audience is great. Because almost all of my work is done at health conferences, universities and community events – I think it would be great if there was a way of listing conferences, meeting planners and community groups who are looking for keynote speakers and performers from outside the country and who have the budget or the means to create a budget to bring us in and pay our speaking fee for the event. I am unaware of international conference or event opportunities that are interested in this or that have the budget to do so,  I am also not well connected with overseas universities that may be interested in sponsoring speakers.

 

 

 

 
If there was one thing that were to change to make the work and role of artists who experience disability more significant, what would it be?

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing actors who don’t have a disability portray someone with one. Artie in the TV show ‘Glee’ is a good example.  Bless the producers for writing a character who uses a wheelchair – but shame on them for not casting someone uses one every day. I know, I know – Hollywood is a business first – but still.

So my wish would be to see more artists with disabilities (all kinds of disability) in prominent roles in all aspects of media: newscasters, reporters, actors in film and TV, reality TV even – anything that gives us the opportunity, not just to be appropriately represented, but because we’re a damn talented group of people. And we represent a large and potentially lucrative demographic, whether news and entertainment execs want to accept that or not.

 

 

  
 
Your third play, "Head over heels: a true story about dating and mental illness"premiered last October and is currently touring across North America.  Can you tell us a bit about this work and what inspired it's themes?

Well it was inspired by mistakes and good source material!  What I mean is that I , like many folks when in the state of mania, made rather uninhibited and questionable choices when it comes to dating and sexual liaisons - but it’s not really discussed much. So what better way to put it on the map than to talk about my own indiscretions in front a large groups of strangers, right?

So the show covers my experiences with dating and relationships in and out of the psych ward, before and after diagnosis. It follows three important relationships in particular, each one getting progressively healthier. That first ‘relationship’, the one with the guy patient from the psych ward –  that wasn’t my best decision. Fun, full of hypersexuality and all, but not really that healthy.

Also, quite sincerely, I noticed that dating and romantic relationships are just as important to those of us with mental illness as anyone else but are not often addressed in treatment plans. And there are some very practical things that have to be tackled: disclosure, learning to feel comfortable and confident again after a diagnosis to get back into the dating game, how to create and sustain a healthy relationship while living with a mental illness, managing or preventing hypersexuality, and damage control within an already established relationship.

 

 

 
 
As well as your performance pieces, you are also an active educator offering both personal and corporate training programmes around mental health.  How is this work different/similar to your creative exploits?

I like that: ‘exploits’! Well, the lectures and workshops I offer are mainly for two different groups but often I address the two audience at the same time. I offer education workshops for health professionals, and ones geared towards individuals living with mental illness and their loved ones.

Each program is based on the recovery model versus a strictly medical model – which more or less means that that person with the illness is an equal partner in the process of decision making and becoming well.

For the programs I offer to health providers – I do my best to give them an ‘insiders’ experience of mental illness and recovery, what it’s like to face both public stigma and often more importantly internalized or self stigma. I help them discuss and explore the elements that prevent us from accepting the diagnosis and taking medication if it’s suggested. I especially talk about the idea that recovery is possible. Many providers, after seeing people only in the acute stages of the illness, forget that recovery from mental illness is not just possible but is likely. As well, I talk about how to enhance the provider/patient relationship, to illustrate what it’s like to be a ‘help seeker’ and how vulnerable that can feel to increase their empathy.

For programs for people living with mental illness – it’s really all about hope, and giving a forum to talk about taboos and expand peoples recovery tools – to see that it’s not just about management of their illness but about reclaiming joy and their life within the parimeters of an illness or disability.