Ever since I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, there’s many advocates and organisations that I’ve either been directed towards or come across myself which have offered a great amount of guidance.
These have been incredibly helpful during my journey to understanding why I feel the way that I do and how I can achieve a much healthier mindset. The help I’ve found across all platforms also has helped me understand that no matter what way of life we lead, we all have our struggles and it’s ok to admit that we do.
One of those organisations was Heads Above The Waves. I originally came across them last year whilst chatting to past blog interviewee Alicia Ewington. I looked them up and found them incredibly passionate and detailed in their approach.
They’ve recently celebrated their 8th birthday and are growing from strength to strength on a daily basis. It was set up in 2013 by Si Martin and Hannah Morgan who simply wanted to make a difference.
By setting up HATW they, wanted to share their journeys and to let others know that we’re never alone. The growth of the organisation since then is impressive as it is inspiring and I myself can honestly say it’s helped me.
Their website is a fantastic hub of helpful tips, articles and other incredible content to help us with our journeys. Their online store is also filled with so many t shirts, hoodies, notebooks and other incredible merchandise which helps promote that positive message.
I recently sat down with Si for a chat via Zoom to speak about what inspired him and Hannah to set up HATW and what else drives him in the organisation. He also speaks about his love for music as he’s the drummer for one of my favourite pop punk bands in Junior.
I couldn’t thank him enough for taking the time out of his busy schedule in order to speak to me and I thoroughly enjoyed our chat.
What inspired you to start HATW and what challenges did you face in doing so?
The original plan stemmed from my first job out of university which was with a communications company. One of our clients was a charity named UnLTD which funds social enterprises.
I was speaking to someone at work and mentioned that I’d struggled as a teenager with my mental health and had a really bad time with it. I also had a particular bad experience with self harming as a harmful coping mechanism. By getting into pop punk music and playing drums was something which helped me massively along with everything which came with it.
That was the thing which led me to making more friends when I was a bit of a loner and the more I played drums, the better I got at it. I then became the kid in that band which led towards the opportunities and the point of where I’m at now.
During my teenage years, my sister gave me the number for Samaritans but I didn’t really think that I was important enough for them. I just thought that in comparison to what you read about, this was just me having a rubbish time and I’d be wasting their time. In retrospect, I’ve since realised that my thinking back then was a load of rubbish and of course they would have wanted to help me.
The original idea I had was inspired by my love of pop punk. I set out a plan where we’d sell merch for my band with the tagline “pop punk saved my life”. The proceeds from the merch would then go to Samaritans and encourage their work.
Someone at the comms company which I was working at said that I should put in for a grant with Unlimited as it would help me make that idea into something real. I thought to myself “why not?” and went for it. They told me that it was a lovely idea to use merch as a way of starting conversations but we’d only find you if you set up your own charity instead of supporting an already established one like Samaritans.
At first I was a bit taken aback by it but then drove forward with the idea. I ended up chatting to a few people around me such as Hannah who also runs Team Up! and our friend Gruff who in the first instance runs a terrific production company named Storm and Shelter. Gruff left shortly after to focus on the growth of Storm and Shelter. We all grouped together to set up what is now Heads Above The Waves
The three of us started off with the website and had about three merch designs which we took around in a suitcase wherever we could. We wanted to start conversations and be what we all wanted to have when we were struggling in our younger years and still do to this very day.
What inspired HATW I suppose is a long way of saying that a particular crummy aspect of my personal life and the idea of someone going through a similar thing that I did, then it’s ok and we can get through it. More-so it’s being that help that we wanted to be there and show that we’re in this together and in this for the long run.
In regards to challenges, I suppose the biggest one was that we didn’t set out to start an organisation so everything seemed to be a challenge at the beginning. I think there were a couple of things like boring red tape stuff and self doubt which still exists to this day.
It’s almost like a form of imposter syndrome where I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing or why I’m here. This is something which is on of the biggest problems there is on a personal level. However having these conversations about mental health is what we want to do and build a sort of database from these experiences and conversations to help us going forward.
Over time you’d build a plethora of information which will help people over all walks of mental health so we just don’t focus on one particular aspect. Quite similar to what you’re doing with the blog, it’s all about growth and that’s a challenge but a really enticing one at the same time.
We all have our own stories and the conversations will be different and similar in their own particular ways. Both aspects would be most helpful to someone seeking that help and between that and our own journeys, it’s just about helping to spread that all important message that you’re not alone and it’s ok to talk about these kind of things.
Since HATW began back in 2013, what do you feel is the biggest thing you’ve learned?
I’m going to go for a sneaky answer on this by saying that we have learned a lot but in the form of little things that have all come together to help us in our journey. Maybe the big answer is that it’s ok to make mistakes. You can learn a lot from them and grow as a result.
The very first batch of T-shirts that we did, there was a design which we had that when it was mocked up, it looked amazing. It went right to the edge of the shirt but of course when you’re screen printing a T shirt, the screen is big on a set size.
Like the design would look amazing on a small when taken right to the edge of the shirt but when you have a XXL t shirt it doesn’t look as good as the design wouldn’t go to edge. We didn’t take that into account and didn’t realise until the shirts had been printed. However, like I said it’s all part of the learning experience.
There’s a whiteboard in our office which is massive. It must be 7 or 8 feet tall. It’s my fault as I didn’t measure it properly when I ordered it and thought it would be a perfect size. It ended up being unable to send back so we’re stuck with it. I’m 6ft and even I have to stand on a box sometimes to write stuff on it. Honestly it haunts me at times!
There’s lots of situations where there’s lots of consideration and thoughts that go into the stuff that we put out. We have to make sure it’s not harmful, not rushed and thought through. I guess it’s risk assessment but it’s ok to put something which we can adapt, learn and grow from it.
I was saying the other day that the vlog content that we put out on the Heads website and socials has grown so much in the 15 months or so since we did the first video post. The most recent one is such a stark contrast as the more videos I did, the more I learned from both external and internal inputs.
Things like including subtitles for the videos were little things that we’ve picked up along the way and learning from your mistakes is key in making sure you adapt and overcome any setbacks. Being thoughtful in what advice you take is also something massive we’ve learned over the years as well.
To an extent, even in the mental health world there’s no point in assuming what people want. You have to stay with the times as you could end up being a bit contradictory. Like you could people if they’d like to see us release a green T-shirt or a red one. 50% might say it has to be green and the other half may say red and then you’re stuck on what to do.
The answer of course is to make a red and a green shirt. That might be a bit of a lame example but you learn from little things like that. Instead of putting yourself on the spot, think of the bigger picture as sometimes two ideas can be merged together and self doubt may creep in but it’s all about responding to it.
Music is heavily associated with the organisation. How important is it to you, especially in overcoming difficult situations?
It’s hugely important dude. We may be a little bit biased in terms of us coming from an alternative scene, which we’re still a part of. I think particularly in that scene, there’s a huge sense of identity and a strong community feel as well.
I think in our own world it’s extra important and very special but at the same time a similar thing can be said for someone listening to house music. It’s might not be my cup of tea but for someone else who does enjoy it, by listening to it they could feel more relaxed or motivated and overall in a much better place.
For me personally, there’s a real connection when I play drums. My brain goes a million miles a minute at times so to just concentrate on what my four limbs are doing at one time is amazing for my mental state. I’m very bad at expressing anger and frustration at all and to let anything out for 20 mins or half hour playing drums is a massive release for me.
Like I said, playing and making music and getting into those scenes has caused me to make friends, which led to opportunities and experiences I’ve had which is just incredible and gives me an incredible feeling which I’ve had since I was a teenager.
There’s a Gnarwolves song named ‘Community, Stability, Identity’ and it sums the feeling up quite nicely. Music can give you a sense of community which can give a sense of identity and help you feel like you have a place where you belong as a Punk Rock dude. This would lead hopefully to some stability where you’re comfortable with who you are.
This could be by going to concert and losing yourself in the music, putting on your headphones and chilling to your favourite record. I also think music is incredibly powerful in terms of dictating and reacting to your mood. For me, I have playlists where it starts really heavy so if I’m angry I’ll listen to that as it has a bit of aggression in it.
As the playlist goes on, it’ll go more towards bands like Underoath who’re heavy but with a positive spin. The Slipknot song named ‘Pulse of the Maggots’ is a prime example as its vintage Slipknot as its got heavy riffs and aggression but it’s really positive as I won’t be wasting potential. That speaks to me and in a way inspires me to pick up my mood to a more positive one.
I suppose its like a journey for me with really heavy and angry songs, then lean towards heavy but less angry and finish with less heavy more positive songs. Going through that also helps me remember that I’m a huge believer in that if you don’t have the words for something, there’s always a song for it.
By putting on an album, it’s a fine way of defining your mental state or expressing how you’re feeling. That can be done lyrically as well as that connection with someone on the other end of the speaker. Like when I was 14 and Taking Back Sunday releasing songs in which the lyrics summed up how I was feeling and that was massive to me.
The song ‘Elevated’ by State Champs is a huge one for me too. I remember a few years ago, I stuck that on instead of listening to sad music and the lyrics stood out in a massive way. Basically telling us that we can achieve a state of mind that everything’s going to be ok and doing so through music is the best way to do it.
When it seems that a song is about one thing but it turns to be about something else is where you really bond with a song, album or artist. That’s the other cool thing as well as music and lyrics are open to interpretation. We can both listen to that State Champs song and take similar or different things from it. That’s what music does it’s so wide open and helpful in different ways.
The discover and journey it can take you on is massive. You can discover some cool stuff and what Machine Gun Kelly is doing with his pop punk album may help fans of that genre to listen to his rap albums. It can open a window to a genre you’d never have listened to before, so it’s kinda like an all you can eat buffet of music. There’s so much out there.
In general, music and gigs has the power to bring thousands of people together in this shared experience. Music is like one of the most important things to humanity in general. I know it’s a big statement but you look at all of the examples and there’s very few things that can replicate the feelings that music brings and it’s just incredible man.
You’ve done a lot of work in schools and other public platforms. What response have you found from the workshops, especially from children and young adults?
The summarised answer to that question is that around 90% of children that we survey feel better equipped to deal with their issues after going through our school workshops. The other kind of interesting thing is that that as a whole, our approach to speak to them is better than other things they’ve had in the past.
Now this isn’t a case of us slagging off anyone else, and I don’t want to do that at all. There’s so many fantastic organisations out there doing great work and it’s just down to finding the right one for you.
I think our approach of going and saying that we’re not medical professionals, we’ve gone through some really rubbish times in our lives. We’ve gathered these stories and coping mechanisms together and we’re here to share them with you. We just want to be that means of support that we didn’t have and speak like we wanted to be spoken to. That’s how we’d speak to them.
That’s the thing that most people connect with as we’re not talking down to them. We’re not using medical jargon, basically we’re saying “it sucks” whilst offering support and advice at the same time. The other thing is that we quite often end up with effects we didn’t imagine having beforehand.
There’s a few occasions where we did 4 or 5 weeks of workshops and there was one particular student who didn’t really connect with anything we said, or respond to any of the stuff we’ve said. They’re not going to take anything from this and thought we’d let this kid down.
However, the school contacted us a few months later and told us that the student had actually turned a corner and was performing better in their studies. Much better than they had before. They did not engage at all in the sessions but just by having a space to be themselves and open, heard and validated has a profound effect that we don’t necessarily see.
It’s one of the things that I really want to work on going forward with Heads is capturing that and the longer term effect. We put stuff out there and a year down the line, all we’ve done is sewn the seeds and said that there are things you can try and people you can talk to.
It might be that a kid comes away and says that it doesn’t effect them. A year down the line they may be in a different situation where they do need that help and they’ll remember the website so they’d head over to Heads and watch a video, read an article or blog post without it being a super intense thing which would make you feel really uncomfortable.
A positive response which you can grow from is the key and we just want to plant the seeds to help them should they need it at any point.
How important is social media in spreading your message?
It’s very important as one of the things we set out to do with young people is speak to them on their level. Their language that they speak with and converse with is social media, whether that’s getting a positive experience or reach out for support.
The fact that the world is transitioning even in the 8 years that HATW has been going, we’re even starting to slip behind slightly as we’ve only recently signed up to Tik Tok. It’s very much a case of “Gen Z” and beyond as we’re very much in a digital world and we need to meet these people to have the conversations.
It’s all well and good to say that we’re going to run a support group in the shop but the response is that the people would rather have it on Tik Tok or another form of social media then in the long run, at least it’s going to be more effective when and where they need it.
To take it back to when my sister gave me the Samaritans number, I didn’t feel that was something I’d be comfortable with. As I was using MySpace back then and these days it would be Instagram, if someone shares a Heads post with a tagline that says “hey, you’re going to be ok”, I wouldn’t feel comfortable using a helpline but the social media means can be a positive stepping stone.
Perhaps by interacting with this site, I’d feel a bit more open to using a helpline in the future as it would be something I’d feel more comfortable using. By seeing other people’s stories where they had spoken to helplines, maybe it won’t be so bad for me either. The good side of social media can be very crucial, especially in promoting our message of support whether it’s promoting our videos, blog posts or merch.
The merch can be a good conversation starter as one of our sayings is “too rad to stay sad”. By saying that it’s ok but you’re a badass by not staying this way forever. You’re going to get up tomorrow and crush it. If it’s not tomorrow then the day after that because you are sick and you will smash it. YES! GET IN!
What do you wish was more well known about mental health and the stigmas associated with it?
I think we’ve come a really long way in the 8 years that Heads has been up and running. There’s so much more available that’s out there and happening around mental health which is fantastic.
Everything I was thinking of like the usual slogans associated with mental health like “it’s ok to not be ok” springs to mind.
Everyone struggles in varying degrees is another key thing talked about, they don’t need to be more well known but there are meanings and substance behind the cliches and that is very important to realise that it’s not just a saying.
You probably already have things that can help your mental health that you don’t necessarily realise that’s there. These are things like video games. I love playing them and I know the difference between playing them out of boredom to zone out or consciously saying I’m getting worked up or in a negative trail of thought, so I need to switch off.
By switching off I’d be using my love of video games to escape to a “happy place” where I’m doing something I enjoy instead of being in a negative mindset. By wondering around the wilderness of ‘Red Dead Redemption’ or playing ‘Call Of Duty’ for a while will help me unwind.
Doing the things you already enjoy and doing some consciously will aid your mental health. You can watch Disney+ if you’re bored or if you need unleash some emotion, you’ll watch ‘Up’ and have a good old cry. That also works massively and it’s something I harp on about.
You’ve got things in your life that can help you manage your mental health. Maybe you need to find new and specific things as well but in general you probably already do something that has a positive impact on your wellbeing.
What would you say to someone who is struggling and doesn’t know if talking about it is the right thing to do?
In the vast majority of cases it’s much better to talk about it and not keep it in. So, you do you is the way to go but if talking about isn’t the right thing you can try drawing it, putting a playlist together of your favourite songs and many other ways to express yourself.
To find what works for you is essential. Just because talking works for me, it won’t necessarily mean it’ll help you, so try many things and eventually you will find something that will help you.
Like I said in the vast amount of cases, just speaking to someone you know and trust will make it more real. When something is out of your head in a conversation or when it’s written down, it becomes more manageable and tangible.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be talking that can be expressing yourself. All of the other means I’ve spoken about are alternative ways of doing that, and as long as you channel it and take it on via a healthy route, you can help yourself achieve a much more positive mindset for sure.
This is only the second time I’ve spoken to someone from a non profit organisation supporting mental health and on both occasions, I’ve learned so much from the conversations.
The work Si and everyone associated with HATW is incredible. Not just with the merch that helps us start these conversations but also the work they do in schools and other public platforms.
I’d have loved to be a teenager with these types of resources. During my teen years, there were plenty of instances where I struggled and felt like I was in a bit of a rut. Si also struggled and has found the means to set up an organisation which he would have reached out to in his teen years.
I know I’d have probably reached out to HATW if they came to my school. Being a massive fan of punk rock and other alternative sub genres of music, I’d have resonated with their stories and experiences.
Also, you don’t want to be contradicted at any point in life and Heads’ approach is exactly the opposite. I see that in their videos, blog posts and other content. It’s thoughtful, considerate and detailed which is what we all want in an approach to mental health.
Me and Si spoke for just over an hour and it flew by. His love for music and specific cult playing the drums has helped him massively. Once again this proves that music is a saving grace for so many of us. Whether it’s putting your headphones on, singing in the shower or playing an instrument, it does really give us a great feeling that very little other things can do.
A massive congrats goes to Heads Above The Waves on their 8th anniversary. I’m sure they’ll keep growing and offering their incredible support network and techniques whilst adapting to the changing times. They really do capture the positive side of social media and without it, their message wouldn’t really be seen or heard.
Thanks once again to Si for talking to me for the blog. I wish him and everyone at Heads all the best for the future and when it’s safe to do so, I’ll most definitely be popping into the store online and in Cardiff to pick up a few things.
The work the organisation does is nothing short of incredible. What started off as an idea, has blown up into something which has benefitted so many people including myself. Everyone at Heads are incredible advocates for mental health and are essential in tackling the stigmas that surround it.
I’ve left some details about HATW regarding how to access their awesome website, socials and their store when lockdown ends. For fans of music, I’ve also shared details on Junior so if you want to check out their socials or music, the info’s there.
Full kudos and respect to Si, HATW, all us quiet kids who liked a bit of punk rock, metal or any other alternative music genre and anyone else who has their struggles and feels alone at times. Remember we’re never alone in this battle and plenty of people love us for who we are.
Thank you as always for reading. Take care, stay safe and until next time don’t think of this as a goodbye but more of a see you later!
Heads Above The Waves
Website – hatw.co.ukSocial media – @HATW_uk (Twitter)@headsabovethewaves (Instagram)Heads Above The Waves (Facebook)
Si’s Social Media
@Himynameissi (Twitter) @asilverdollar (Instagram)
Junior
Search for “Junior” on Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platformsWebsite – musicofjunior.comSocial media – @musicofjunior (Twitter and Instagram), Junior (Facebook)
MIND OVER NOISE 