Harrison Wheeler’s mental health took a tumble about 15 years ago. It wasn’t very funny. But as he returned to better health, he found a way to joke about it.
Wheeler is bringing his many layered show “Crazy Good” to Guelph next week. It’s a combination of theatre, cinema, comedy, visual art and talk that instills the idea of using humour and creativity for improved mental health and healing.
“I use humour as a way of dissolving that barrier to understanding,” Wheeler said. “I hope the title will be offensively engaging enough to get people’s attention. My message over all is that our limitations, be they mental or physical, can actually be strengths that lead to innovation and valuable ideas that shouldn’t be seen as 'nuts'.”
A former school vice-principal, Wheeler has a particular interest in the influences the workplace has on mental health. That influence is too often too negative, with pressures, stresses, and interpersonal strains all conspiring against mental wellness.
“There is so much going on psychologically at work, and stress is the number one germ of so many conditions, conditions that can start as a moderate physical issue and become a full-on psychological issue – psychotic breaks and substance abuse issues,” he said. “It is a space that could use a really positive and optimistic boost of informed education.”
Wheeler’s last manic incident was in 2006, and it left him hospitalized. In 1999, he was hit by what was first diagnosed as psycho-affective disorder and then as bipolar disorder.
Throughout those difficult years he kept a journal, was a prolific sketcher, and invented a jester character that now features prominently in his shows. Creativity, he said, had a transformative effect on his life, and helped make him well again.
“During my whole experience of mental health and addiction I filled sketchbooks,” he said. “I don’t know why I did it, but I was just into creative journaling. And that gave me purposeful distraction from what was going on.”
All of that creative exploration, which he described as an allegorical chronicle or roadmap of his life, lead to the writing of a novel for young readers called Jesters Incognito.
“Crazy Good” is a showcase of all that he has been working on over the last four years, including a one-man show, also entitled Jesters Incognito, that is a kind of multi-media comedy.
“It’s a really fun show that tells the story of my recovery on a screen, with excerpts from my journals and a photo recreation of my recovery itself,” he said. “In between those cinematic portions, I come out as characters from my novel and tell the plot of the novel.”
The show happens at The Bookshelf eBar, 41 Quebec Street, Thursday, Nov. 17, starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.
Wheeler will also share his insights about how creative work has healing power.
“At the end of the show there will be a Q & A, where I’ll be talking about my next venture – a community workshop where people will have an opportunity to exercise creativity as another tool in their mental health toolbox,” he said.
Wheeler said there is a need for people with mental health challenges to get help and express themselves at the community level.
There are lots of people, celebrities among them, talking about their mental health recovery. But rarely are practical tools discussed, he said. He wants to contribute to filling that gap.
