Member-only story
Metaphors for Depression
Imagery from Homeless Youth
CONTENT WARNING: Depression and suicide.
This is a true story. Steps have been taken to protect confidentiality.
When I worked in the youth shelter system, I used to co-facilitate a workshop on depression with a young peer worker. It was about trying to build awareness that depression is not just a thing you “get over.” So, we asked people to use a metaphor to describe what depression felt like to them. As we went around the circle, incredibly, most shared a completely unique, powerfully visual metaphor. Next, we would watch a Buzzfeed video where an illustrator paints three peoples’ descriptions of their depression.
If the group was game, we would get them to draw or paint their own metaphors. Once we patched them together to create a poster for the shelter to keep up during Mental Health Awareness Week. Another time, a young artist in the group volunteered to draw our discussion, improvising on a flipchart. The results sat in the corner of the group room for awhile, reminding me of how brilliant the youth were and how much they’d been through.
When I went home after the first time we facilitated the topic, I wrote down what I could remember. Some are just there in my brain after all these years.