Qualia at Northcote Town Hall shares mental health horror stories

Imagine being told you’re “too pretty” to have a mental illness, or that it was an “unnecessary cost” to get you help to understand your diagnosis. Hear the horror stories from Victoria’s mental health crisis at this Fringe Festival show.

Qualia creator Heidi Everett and Hadley Johnson at Northcote Town Hall.

After four days of lying on a trolley in the emergency department, Jess Cochran lied to her doctor, told them she was fine and ready to go home.

A day later she tried to kill herself.

Cochran’s harrowing story of life as a psychiatric patient in Victoria’s medical system is one of three stories revealed in Qualia at Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Director Heidi Everett uses the show to explore 24 hours in a psychiatric ward, using characters based off the real life experiences of Hadley Johnson, Xavier Gouault and Jess Cochran.

Hadley Johnson shares her experience trying to gain care as a deaf person. Picture: Hamish Blair

Cochran, 29, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disease which weakens connective tissues like tendons and ligaments, and left her in a wheelchair.

Having spent 17 years in and out of inpatient psychiatric care, Cochran said it was time for the public to know what patients were going through.

“Soon after I started using a wheelchair I was having a lot of trouble acclimatising. I lost my job as a nurse, prospects of having a family were fading. I sought out help,” she said.

“I was told ‘you’re too pretty, too young, too intelligent — it’s all in your head’.”

“I spent four days on a trolley in emergency while both the public and private co-ordinators tried to find a bed for me.”

“I ended up lying to them and saying I was fine to go home.”

“A day later I almost lost my life to a suicide attempt.”

Cochran said she hoped the this play will contribute to getting more people with disability or mental illness on stage, in TV shows or movies.

“We’re just regular people,” she said.

“People see you smile and assume everything’s fine and you’re happy.”

“Or because you’ve been in a psych unit you’re a scary person, you sit in a corner and stare at the wall.”

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Deaf performer Hadley Johnson said when she took herself to hospital to seek help for her mental health she was told an Auslan interpreter was an “unnecessary cost”.

“In hospital, medicine is used willingly to save people’s lives,” she said.

“When it comes to access to communication, something that would have had a profoundly positive impact on my health at that time, I was denied repeatedly.

“The cost was prioritised over a person and that’s not something we see when treating physical illness.

“Unfortunately that meant things were missed, communication was nearly impossible and this had a lasting impact on my life.”

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Johnson said proper education for medical professionals on the behaviours and communication of deaf people would mean conditions were diagnosed more effectively.

Fellow performer Xavier Gouault said his journey of mental health treatment had been a terrifying experience and he hoped to share what a person went through when they’re alone in that world.

Qualia is at Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre from September 20 to 22.

For tickets visit the Melbourne Fringe website.

@richardapearce