Along with three other students, I co-authored an anthology which was published on 21st September. The book is about the journey of a teenager with mental health issues.I chose this as my CAS project because I am really passionate about writing and have always wanted to showcase it. We wrote this book to share our struggles with mental health and help those who suffer silently. It took us 9 months to completely finish and publish this book.
LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas of growth
As a student we all suffer through stress and anxiety we don’t always express. Writing this book helped me realize my strength as a writer, how I could put my distress and anxiety into words. As this was a group project, it also helped me increasingly develop my writing skills as well as comprehension skills. Not only that, this experience also taught me how to deal with professional publishing houses and the importance of efficacy and punctuality.
LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
Writing this book was a prolonged journey. There were many challenges that we as a team faced or sometimes I myself faced. Sometimes differences in ideas of how the book will be or dealing with the publishers made it really stressful. But it helped me facilitate my communication skills .
LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
Together with my co-authors I initiated the plan to organize a book launch event for the book we had published. I communicated with the venue managers and the publishers in order to plan the event. It taught me how to manage an event and gave me confidence to speak with different people and plan an event on a big scale.
LO4: Show commitment and Perseverance in CAS experiences
Writing poetry every day was not always simple for me since I would occasionally run out of topics or words to use. Even though it might be challenging to understand exactly what your supervisor wants you to write about, I vowed to finish my articles and submit them by the deadline despite these challenges.
LO 5 :Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
Throughout this experience, I got to expand my writing abilities and learn what it’s like to work for a publishing business. It also aided me to understand how to collaborate with others, create a welcoming workplace, and take into account all viewpoints and suggestions. It enabled me to develop my interpersonal and communication abilities.
LO 6: Engagement with issues of global significance
This book was about the journey of a teenager through mental health issues. Currently, with increasing pressures from school and impractical standards set by social media, stress and anxiety is very prevalent amongst young adults. This is often seen as a taboo and not talked about openly especially by the teens who are themselves suffering. This was our contribution towards sharing mental health journeys and helping others know they aren’t alone.
LO7: Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Writing a book about mental health and sharing something so sensitive on a big scale, we had to make sure we were not writing something that would in any way harm or offend others. We also kept the anonymity of some pieces to protect writers’ privacy.
LEARNER OUTCOMES:
This project made me more open minded towards people’s struggles with mental illness and the importance of speaking up about your sufferings. Not only that, it also made me knowledgeable about different problems that teens suffer from and about how an anthology is written. It also made me reflective upon how fortunate I am to have so many sources and support to help me put my voice out.
