AMHC in the Media: Amanda Edwards in 'MindSite News'

Thank you 'MindSite News' and Courtney Wise for highlighting this work!

"Actors may look like they are enjoying their (simulated) intimate scenes onscreen, but that’s often not the case  – and producers now often use “intimacy coordinators” to help guide them through it. April Pearson was 17 when she was cast in the teen drama Skins “before an intimacy coordinator was even a thing.” She says she and several other cast members were uncomfortable in their sex scenes.

Licensed therapist Amanda Edwards can relate. Soon after starting work as an intimacy coordinator in the performing arts, she realized the scope of her role didn’t go far enough.Intimacy coordinators, she told Indie Wire, are meant to support performers in handling nudity and simulated sex scenes. But besides helping productions portray intimacy onscreen responsibly, she soon noticed that she “was doing mental health crisis mitigation for not only the cast members who were performing the thing, but also for the crew members who had to watch the thing happen over and over and over again.” Equipped with the expertise to lend such support, Edwards expanded her work and changed her job title to “mental health coordinator.” Now she provides essential emotional support and crisis intervention in various productions."

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