Helping Mental Health - One Edit at a Time

I’m a big lover of psychology (having taken it in university as part of my Criminology degree, along with various psychology diplomas and certificates later on - thanks Covid pandemic and online learning!), as I’m a lifelong learner. And importantly mental health seems to be at the forefront of the societal psyche at the moment (which is great for helping to end the stigma of mental health issues and conditions).

Because of this, and my background, I recently became a Script Editor for Psych2Go, the popular YouTube channel that brings mental health issues and psychology to a wider audience. Their videos are primarily geared toward a younger demographic (13-25 year olds), but that doesn't mean that people of any age can't also enjoy their fun and entertaining videos on a variety of fascinating topics. I've been a fan myself for years!

As a Script Editor, I’m assigned articles (that can be found on their website, Psych2Go.net) which I then edit in a way that makes them engaging and suitable to be turned into their signature adorably animated videos on their YouTube channel. Because people’s attention spans tend to be shorter these days (thanks social media, for making people not want to actually read anything too long), their videos are around 5 minutes - short enough to fit into your busy day, or if you’re awake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, you can watch videos on such topics as anxiety or depression, Myers Briggs Type Indicator Personality types, or how to improve your life by doing XYZ, with cute little animated characters delivering these important messages, along with the uber soothing, relaxing and calming voice of their main voice-over artist/narrator, Amanda Silvera (who is also an amazing singer). Her voice alone might be able to help you drift back to sleep.

Thankfully, I oddly enjoy editing. Not my own writing of course, that’s crazy talk! Editing my own stories and articles makes me want to throw my computer out the window and scream obscenities at my laptop (or maybe that’s just due to years of editing my novels to try and get them out to agents and publishers to be traditionally published, which led to severe burnout and me shoving one of my partly edited manuscripts in a drawer never to see the light of day).

But editing other people’s writing with my virtual red pen (aka track changes and comments)? That’s a different story altogether. I relish tearing apart people’s works and putting them back together again in a more coherent way that flows and engages. And so far I haven’t been unfriended by people whose works I’ve edited (in fact, someone even gifted me a book as a thank you for editing their book about their mindfulness journey, which was very generous!), so I must be doing something right!

Recently, the first two videos I edited Psych2Go’s articles into scripts for were released on their YouTube channel, so I wanted to share them with you. Both on topics that I think are useful to everyone.

The first one is on burnout - something I think most (if not all!) of us can relate to. Especially now, during the pandemic, when people are juggling work and home stuff all in the same realm (I'm looking at you work-from-home-ers!). You can check it out below (and if you like it, please share it with people who might benefit from it!).

The second video is a fun video-game inspired animated one about mistakes you should avoid in your life, and you can watch that one right here:

I hope you enjoy these videos and perhaps learned some tips on how to cope with burnout or live your life better!

**********

If you've enjoyed this piece, please consider sharing it, leaving a heart or if you feel so inspired, a tip (but no obligation!). Your support means a lot to me!