Phil Selway is just what you'd expect of a Samaritan. The mild-mannered 36-year-old, who enjoys a reputation of being an emotional anchor, admits that he was trying to impress a woman when he signed up as a "listening volunteer" for the charity while studying English and history at Liverpool Polytechnic. But whatever his driving force (he didn't get the girl), 17 years later he still works long and hard for the organisation which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone in distress.
A former public schoolboy, sub-editor and English teacher, now married to Kate and father of two, Selway ran the London marathon for Samaritans last year, raising more than £20,000. Samaritans relies on almost 20,000 people like him: trained volunteers who staff helplines and drop-in centres across the UK. But Selway's devotion to this particular duty sits incongruously alongside his day job, as the drummer with Grammy award-winners Radiohead.
Hailed by some as the only band in recent history to threaten the Beatles' domination, Radiohead's songs are often described as "depressing". How does Selway reconcile contributing to a somewhat gloomy youth culture with his Samaritans' role?
He doesn't write the lyrics, but admits: "Many people have said our music is depressing, and yes, it does confront uncomfortable issues. Ultimately, though, there's always a sense of moving through these, and I feel the music is uplifting." Indeed, the simple refrain from a song called Optimistic - "If you try the best you can,/The best you can is good enough" - might be a message from Selway himself.
From the album Kid A, it sums up Selway's encouragement to the young people who have been using a donated Radiohead soundtrack in an extraordinary film-making collaboration. The project is aimed at demystifying mental health and illness and encouraging young people to talk about their emotional problems.
As reported in Guardian Society earlier this year, research carried out by Read the Signs, part of the Mind Out for Mental Health campaign, revealed the incredible but often hidden burden of mental health problems among the young. Of more than 1,000 15-21-year-olds surveyed, 86% knew someone who had experienced a mental-health problem, more than half knew someone who had self-harmed, and a staggering 44% of women knew someone who had tried to kill themselves. Yet 97% said their knowledge of mental-health issues was poor, and more than 60% predicted that their peers would be dismissive of someone with mental illness.
Selway is determined to use his positions in the worlds of pop and Samaritans to help break down the taboos that surround mental illness. He believes that "the more people who acknowledge the distress and emotional difficulties encountered by others, the better".
Working with the music channel MTV, Mind Out for Mental Health and Samaritans, Selway invited young people to make films of between 30 and 60 seconds interpreting the phrase "Need to talk" using Radiohead's soundtrack as backing. The aim was to offer them a platform on which to express their thoughts and reactions to their own emotional problems, as well as those of their peers, and encourage them to think again about the stigmas that may stop them discussing difficulties or seeking help. Fifty-seven budding Spielbergs put together films that were whittled down to a short list of nine, which are now being shown on MTV.
James Scroggs, director of marketing for MTV in the UK and Ireland, commended their creators for looking at mental-health issues with a lightness of touch, creative ingenuity and sometimes even humour. He stresses: "The idea was not to show the misery of emotional problems, but to inspire people to think about them differently and positively, breaking down the stigmas and galvanising us all into communicating more with each other." Scroggs says that they sit brilliantly interspersed between MTV's regular programmes.
Paul Corry, head of policy and campaigns at mental health charity Rethink (formerly the National Schizophrenia Fellowship), which works extensively with young people, says of this initiative: "It's a fantastic achievement which uses the celebrity market to bring mental-health issues into the open more than ever before."
Rethink will showcase the winning film at its film festival in June. The organisation is also currently working at a less glitzy level with a travelling mental-health worker offering awareness workshops to 14-16-year-olds in Kent schools. These are already proving incredibly beneficial in reducing stigma.
Professor Lewis Wolpert, a biologist from London's University College, experienced mental illness in his 60s when a period of depression left him suicidal and hospitalised for three months. A longtime campaigner for such work, he says, "It's vital to start at the beginning, and get proper consideration of mental health and illness into schools. We live in a weird society. Children have sex education and physical-health education at school, but what they're most likely to get is mental illness.
"They may well have depression, or have depressed parents or friends, yet no one talks to them about this. They're worried, they face the issues every day, yet we let them down by not providing the support they need."
Corry agrees that reaching people early makes sense. "The government says it will cut waiting times for treatment from 18 months to three to six months by next April. This is vital, but can only have a real impact if younger people are aware of danger signs, and what's out there to help them if they need it."
The Radiohead-backed films will certainly help to push this topic up the agenda for the 16-34-year-old target audience of MTV. Mind Out is also putting together a photographic exhibition in which some of today's other young stars, including Romeo and Daniel Bedingfield, give their suggestions for looking after emotional health. Also in the exhibition, ensuring its appeal to those a little older, is Sting, who has spoken about dark days during his time with the Police. The exhibition should help to bring home the message that mental-health problems, which affect one in four of the UK population every year, are not someone else's problems.
One of Radiohead's songs ends "What would I do if I did not have you?" It is interesting to wonder how many people were, unknowingly, shored up through mental turmoil by Selway, the surprising Samaritan.
Another song, called I Can't, contains the lines: "Please forget the words that I just blurted out, it wasn't me, it was my strange and creeping doubt." Selway stresses that all conversations with Samaritans are totally confidential, non-judgmental, and never push people to do or say anything against their will. But he admits that taking calls can leave him anxious, and you have the strong impression that he can't easily forget the words he hears.
The same song ends: "If you give up on me now I'll be gutted like I've never been before." Knowing the truth of this may be why Selway is currently devoting so much energy to raising the profile of Samaritans, and drawing attention to mental distress, particularly as it affects young people. He hasn't given up on them. We mustn't either.
· Sophie Petit-Zeman is lead journalist for Mind Out for Mental Health. Rethink: 0845 456 0455, www.rethink.org/.
Samaritans 24-hour helpline (UK): 08457 90 90 90; (Republic of Ireland) 1850 60 90 90. Email jo@samaritans.org; write Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA; www.samaritans.org
Other useful links: www.changeourminds.com
www.mindout.net
www.readthesigns.org
