Nikki’s Blog! Internship – Week 1

Hey everyone! My name’s Nikki and I am working as a PR & Marketing intern 2 days a week for 3 months at The Comedy Trust. I thought it would be a great idea to write a weekly blog about what jobs I am doing and to give you all a flavour of what goes on behind the scenes at The Comedy Trust!

Last week was my first week working as an intern and I had a blast. Here’s what I got up to:

Day 1 – October 6th

The first thing I noticed was that today was Bipolar Awareness Day so most of the work that I did was geared towards that. This included scheduling tweets that contained facts about Bipolar Disorder as well as quotes from celebrities who have Bipolar Disorder. I wrote a blog post on #BipolarAwarenessDay that aims to spread awareness and make people more informed.

I then attended a workshop at Broadgreen International School for their ‘Stand Out’ course that will conclude with a show on the 13th October. This was to give me a first-hand view of what The Comedy Trust actually do and how it helps people. I was amazed to see the development in confidence that the kids had and how funny their jokes were. Some of them even had me crying with laughter.

Day 2 – October 7th

The start of the day saw me attend a promotional talk for the ‘Feeling Funny’ course which is designed to help men discuss mental health through stand-up. This is because statistically, men are less inclined than women to talk about these issues. The ‘Feeling Funny’ course provides a friendly environment in which the men can express themselves.

I wrote a blog post on the Broadgreen ‘Stand Out’ Week 5 Workshop that summarised the workshop and gives an idea of what to expect from the show. By doing this, readers can also see what the course consists of and how it helps the participants. I also wrote a press release for the Broadgreen International School show that gives all the details and a brief idea of what to expect and how the course has helped.

I then wrote another blog post on World Mental Health Day which fell on Monday 10th October so I scheduled for it to be posted on the day. The post discusses basic facts and statistics as well as looking at the importance of comedy in relation to mental illness.

This week has been really eye-opening as I have become more informed on issues such as Bipolar Disorder as well as learning new things about mental illness and how the stigma affects those who have it. I feel that my confidence has grown in writing as well as learning the importance of how social media can really communicate and spread awareness. I’m looking forward to the next 3 months and learning new skills such as working the camera and editing promotional films for the social media sites.