“As a filmmaker and creative facilitator, Myriad helped me connect personal experience with professional practice. I come from the global majority and have lived experience myself, but before Myriad, I hadn’t worked directly in roles supporting global majority communities. I joined to grow my skills in creative mental health, cultural competency, and trauma-informed facilitation, and left feeling more confident, connected, and committed to this path.

My placements took me into two very different creative spaces. I supported a lead filmmaker at 42nd Street’s Horsfall project, working with UK-born young artists exploring mental health through visual storytelling, and I independently filmed music sessions for Music Action International, where I documented the powerful, collective energy of refugee-background students building confidence and belonging through rhythm, lyrics and shared creativity.

In both settings, I drew on what I’d learned in the training – how to hold space safely, adapt to different needs, and be sensitive to the ways trauma and culture shape engagement. At Music Action International, some students didn’t want to be filmed or take part in singing, and that was OK. Being culturally competent meant respecting that, recognising the nuances, and offering options for contribution without pressure.

For me, cultural competency is about more than understanding, it’s about trust. It’s the smile that welcomes someone in without making them explain who they are. It’s knowing that a dance workshop might not feel safe to an Afghan participant, but that storytelling or poetry might. It’s about knowing your community well enough to choose the right path to healing.

I believe programmes like MYRIAD are essential for Greater Manchester, to equip diverse practitioners with the tools, language and support they need to lead this work well. It’s how we move from intention to impact, and make mental health support truly inclusive, effective, and resonant.”