Brain Storms: Creativity and Mental Health

Honor Eastly is a writer, podcaster and mental health advocate. In 2021 she was the recipient of the Australian Mental Health Prize for her work both inside and outside the mental health system. She is the writer and producer of the No Feeling Is Final podcast, a ground-breaking narrative memoir series based on her experience of suicidality and help-seeking in Australia. She is also the co-founder of the grassroots peer support initiative The Big Feels Club. Recently she was a key advisor to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System and has subsequently led the implementation of key recommendations from the commission. Her creative work has been described as “darkly funny” (by The New York Times) “total magic” (by The Atlantic), and “really quite nice” (by her mum).

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, most recently The Younger Wife. Her novel, The Mother-In-Law (2019), has been optioned for a TV series by Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler. Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. Sally's novels are available around the globe in English and have been translated into 20 languages. She has sold more than one million books worldwide.

Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe is a Rwandan-British composer and multidisciplinary storyteller and broadcaster working between Narrm/Melbourne, and Rwanda. Multiple forms of synaesthesia add a neurodiverse dimension to Stephanie’s identity as a third culture individual. Stéphanie’s research-based practice explores the construction and archiving of culture through transcription into experiential narratives. Stéphanie writes and presents Passenger, a weekly show on the ABC Classic radio station matching storytelling with the art music of different destinations and cultures across the world. Stéphanie has been commissioned to work with organisations such as NGV, Liquid Architecture, Arts Centre Melbourne, Musica Viva, MONA, ArtsHouse, ArtPlay, Next Wave Festival, Seventh Gallery, Noir Darkroom and Gaffa Gallery.

Daniel Regan is a UK based photographic artist exploring complex emotional experiences, focusing on the transformational impact of arts on mental health, building on his own lived experience. His work focuses on themes of wellbeing and brokers dialogue around often taboo topics. He shoots commissions, personal works, delivers socially engaged projects and provides consultancy in arts & health. Daniel is Founder and Executive Director of the Arts & Health Hub, a UK non-profit organisation supporting artists that work in the arts and health sector. His particular interest and focus is on practitioner support for artists with lived experience of mental health difficulties. Previously Daniel worked as the Director of an arts and health charity in the National Health Service in London.