Firstly, the Expression Sessions offers one of the best coping strategies for mental illness, particularly depression, social support. The Expression Sessions offers a place where young people who are suffering, are able to go and freely open up about their feelings, thoughts and emotions, without the fear of being judged or ridiculed. The music part of this offers a way of making it much easier for them to open up to other people, where they may not have done before. Music gives the participants an extremely effective way of accessing and expressing difficult emotions, which they would normally suppress and hide from. By talking with the support workers, writing and producing music, it ensures that they feel the emotions they have to feel, and accept them, rather than making things worse via experiential avoidance.
These sessions offer a similar effect to group therapy – however, in a more fun, less formal manner, suited better to the participants of the group. This kind of environment gives the young people in the group a place to talk, tell others their emotions, and, potentially, bounce ideas off of each other - meaning that they are able to develop their own solutions to problems, with help from people in the same or similar situations, which can benefit them greatly.
The sessions also touch on avoiding drugs and alcohol. This coping mechanism is used commonly in young people, particularly those who do not have the access to treatment or help that others might. Drugs and alcohol are extremely short term solutions to a problem, which will only grow in size with the use of these. By using drugs and alcohol, sufferers are avoiding and suppressing the issue which, as previously stated, only make the issue worse in the long term. Suppressed emotions cause issues in the subconscious, which lead to more and worse mental health problems. This is why therapies such as ACT push clients to talk about and feel the emotions which they have suppressed.
The Expression Sessions should not be considered an alternative to traditional therapies, but as an extremely effective coping mechanism, which helps the young people to understand and follow through with other helpful techniques to aid their progression in recovery from these mental illnesses, and prevent relapse. In the tacking of depression, The Expression Sessions can offer a considerable aid in helping people through it, with the outside help of professionals, for each participant suffering.
However, the sessions should not set out to diagnose or push any outside treatment options on the young people as, in this condition, they are vulnerable and impressionable and this could interfere with current or future treatments. Alternative treatments, which work for some people, may not work for others and can even hinder their recovery; this should be left to medical professionals. Signposting the participants should be as far as this should go.