‘No preparation’ for post-Covid mental health trauma, Ruby Wax tells LBC
29 November 2020, 20:57
Comedian and actress Ruby Wax has told LBC’s An Inconvenient Ruth that people need to work from the “bottom up” to support mental health, as the government are “not going to do anything”.
In a wide ranging interview, the mental health campaigner told Ruth she is concerned “there’s no preparation for the trauma that’s going to come out of” the coronavirus lockdown.
Ms Wax added she believes “the government’s going to do jack s**t” and she has “no confidence in a government” tackling mental health issues.
“It’s going to be really serious, but nobody says anything... I think it has to be people now, it has to start from the bottom up,” the actress explained.
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“I think the stigma ended or lessened because people started standing up and saying, this is what is going on for me. Humans gave each other support, that’s community.”
She continued: “It’s when we have each other’s backs we’re the healthiest. I’m not a politician, I can’t answer those questions but I think we have to do what we can. Just a little thing to help the next guy."
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Ms Wax founded Frazzle Cafe in 2016, a charity which runs “peer support meetings” across the UK for “people feeling frazzled and overwhelmed by the stresses of modern life”.
Although the meetings have now been moved online, the comedian told Ruth she is continuing to work to build a community.
“I think it’s all about community, so I formed this community online and it’s free,” she explained.
The charity “brings people together because that’s our salvation, our community”.
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Ms Wax also recounted her experience interviewing Donald Trump in 2000 for her BBC show Ruby's American Pie, telling Ruth: “He was a mogul, he was a power-monger and he was terrifying.
“I laughed when he said he wanted to be the President of the United States and that didn’t help our relationship.”
She added: “I don’t want to talk about him, he’s a psychopath. Why fuel it you know? When people talk about it they just get angry.
“I’m sad for my country that they even allowed that in. So I don’t want to say anything, but it’s a monster. I’m so alarmed. I didn’t know America was made of such stupid people.”
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