Inspire Helps Mental-Health Participants Build Confidence Through Stand-Up

What changed

Inspire’s Finding Our Funny workshops have helped people with mental-health difficulties write and perform their own stand-up comedy. Michael Hart and Carla Sloan are among the participants who have completed three gigs in Enniskillen, Londonderry and Belfast this month, with mentoring from comedian Tim McGarry.

Why it matters

The useful part is not simply that the jokes landed. Participants had to write from their own experiences, rehearse, face a room of strangers and recover when nerves showed up. Michael stuttered and froze at first, then finished his set; Carla nearly turned around before entering her first workshop.

That makes the project a practical confidence exercise, not a clinical treatment. Michael says the experience has strengthened his goal of returning to work, while Carla says it has changed how she judges her own abilities. Those are meaningful personal gains, though whether they last beyond the performances remains unknown.

There is also something refreshingly concrete here about wellbeing: confidence was built through a difficult, social task, with preparation and support. The laughter was the visible result. The quieter achievement was getting on stage at all.