Join us this week a Host Kaiyura Albery speaks with Writer and Speaker Nick Taber about how authoritarian structures like the Mental Health Industry and the Education System, can do more harm to a child's creative potential, than help.
Nick has a background in East Asian Political Economy and Authoritarian Politics. He spent years living in East Asia, where he advised corporate clients about policy landscape.
He has studied at some top notch universities, including the London School of Economics, where he earned a Master's degree in International Political Economy, and he's written about authoritarianism in China for globally renowned publications.
The thing that stands out most about Nick is his embodiment of his values, the strength and clarity of his message and how it all fuses together to form one of the rarest of human qualities, the sovereign mind.
Make sure you check out Nick’s blog, you can read his articles here.
To hear him speak, you can find his YouTube here.
His X (Twitter) account can be found here.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Poem: 'Solaire' by Kaiyura Albery
Into The Woods - Theme Song
Speaking on difficult childhoods, Developmental Trauma, losing sense of self, and the Troubled Teen Industry
Introducing Nick Taber, writer and speaker, educating the world about harmful authoritarian structures and their impact on creativity and human potential. What was the motivation behind the choice to speak publicly about these issues?
Barriers to finding info? Internal barriers, internalised so much self judgement. Once he became aware of his internalisation, he began removing the blockages to accepting these resources. Also some of them are in the margins, not in the mainstream.
How did you realise you needed or wanted to speak out about the Mental Health Industry? How to safe guard from the gaslighting?
Ralph Waldo Emerson “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” What are the implications of not being the authority on your own mind? Concerned by the massive industry that has propagated itself out of this idea
Nick doesn’t ‘safe-guard’ against gas lighting. Accepts that if he experiences that it’s an opportunity for him to strengthen his own perspective and align more deeply with himself and his perspective
Existential Death of the loss of self Education, mental health and family structures employ a certain power dynamic which gets in the way of creativity, developing your own capacity for healthiness like developing your own mental and emotional health
When we lack self awareness, distress is often seen as a problem not a need. Mental health system filled with people who respond in prejudiced way against kids. They don’t understand real perspective, deny it, judgement, reaction to these kids
Mental Health system sees kids as defective individuals rather than seeing the actual context of what the child might be experiencing. Changing the context can make a big difference
Why did you choose writing and speaking as your avenue for addressing these issues? Had a background in journalism and commentating. Then wanted to branch out and get comfortable on video and decided to do that. Those are the main avenues
On the flexibility or democratisation of the internet, optimistic about the future
Diving deeper into Nick’s genuine reflection about what’s at stake and what get’s lost when engage with mental health system. Nick lives in States, but Australia imports so many American ideas that the issue translates
About personal development and self awareness. How one can heal and grow, develop their full potential coming out of some of these things. Education system is not one that is conducive to developing potential creatively emotionally etc
Conventional schooling has too much focus of the school directing the learning. There is no power in hands of student to develop their own education and themselves. What would it mean for our world if we didn’t do that.
We measure a child’s development on how well we can control them rather than how comfortable they feel in their skin or how much of themselves they’ve realised
Creativity is broad, and powerful. In Nick’s conceptualisation of creativity, the opposite of creativity is being fear driven, insecurity, desire to control oneself and control other things. The more you remove that in self, the more creative you can be
Influential People, Ideas and Books
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Lao Tzu, Bruce Levine (Psychologist and Social Critic)
Gabor Mate, Peter Levine - through the Trauma Lens
Books, Against Therapy by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
Information is helpful in the hands of those with agency, not the teenagers but in the autonomous adult coming out of that situation and to some degree parents
Book, Excellent Sheep by William Deresiewicz, For college students facing the rat race, about how that impedes self development and purpose in life
Big thank you to Nick Taber for joining us this week
Thank you for listening and see you soon!
