Movies for Mental Health event explores stigma through film
1. Movies for Mental Health
El Camino College
May 25, 2017
@artwithimpact
#Movies4MentalHealth
2. Here’s the Plan
I. Quick Introduction
II. Set the Stage Together
III. Watch Short Films & Discuss Them
IV. Make it Personal with Our Panel
3. Brought to you by
• Monthly Short Film
Competition
• Campus Workshops
• Global Community
(blog, IG, Twitter,
FB)
• Mental Health Services Act (2004)
• 1% tax on people earning >$1m/year
• 25% to prevention and early intervention
Student Health Center
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Office of Staff and Student Diversity
Student Equity Program
Inter-Club Council
Auxiliary Services Board
Student Development Office
4. Heads Up
• Mental health is personal - YOU are the
expert of your own experience.
• This is a public space - not therapy.
• We’re here for connection, questions and
creating change!
• Films might trigger big emotions - that’s OK!
• Please ask for help if you need support.
5. Some Movies that Show Mental Illness:
Forrest Gump
A Beautiful Mind
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Rain Man
Flowers for Alvanon
Split
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Fatal Attraction
The Accountant
6. Characters with Mental Illness Are Portrayed as:
Pitiful
Lonesome
Intriguing
Antisocial
Smart
Misunderstood
Abstract
Autistic
Creative
Unstable
8. What is mental illness?
A sickness that affects the mind
Chemical inbalance
Something beyond us
Thinking outside the box-thinks differently
Abnormal behavior
The inability to understand right from wrong in
society
9. What is mental wellness?
Chemical balance
Someone who can function despite hardships
Having a healthy and adaptive mind
Emotionally stable
Controlling emotions in a healthy way
Self acceptance, self care- exercise, eating habits, sleep
hygiene
Coping skills
Therapy
Practice
Self awareness
Conscious
11. What is stigma?
Judgment made against something without
rational basis
Perception- the way you view something
Idea/Moral that is taught and supposed to accept
Never heard of a positive stigma
False
12. How does stigma feel?
Extremely demotivating
Isolating
Emotionally painful
Strange/Odd
Life isn’t fair
Deep shame
Dangerous- can evoke harmful emotions/actions
14. In Groups of Three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
15. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts Feelings
I thought...
Having someone to talk to that can
relate was a theme
Unaware of internal problems with
people you share space with
Displayed how each character
coped/self regulated their
emotions/mental health
Each person had unique experience,
but still can find common ground
Living in a time with perceived (false)
perfection
Overthinking- effect of pressure
I felt...
Provided deeper insight;
connectedness
Unity; therapeutic
16. Not Just A Phase
By Lisa Toppari
AWI Winner, February 2016
17. In Groups of Three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
• What have you learned?
18. What did you think… feel… learn?
Thoughts Feelings New Insights
I thought...
Support system is important
I felt...
Felt 100% relatable
Evoked memories
Sensitivity
Hopeless
Jealous
Sad
I discovered...
Depression is not just a feeling,
but a state of being
No expansion on how to help;
need for information
Revelation of own mental health
21. What did you think… feel… learn?
Thoughts InsightsFeelings
I thought...
Relatable with friends in
expressing resistance to
receiving help
Oppression as relates to mental
health within communities,
especially marginalized
I felt...
Goosebumps
I discovered...
Societal stigma
Family can affect your perception
of mental health/services
Eye-opening
Untreated mental health
materializing in other ways
23. Meet the Panel
• Kailey Stapel - El Camino College Student
• Violet Simpson - El Camino College Student
• Victoria Kwon, PhD - ECC Mental Health Care Provider
• LaFaune Gordon, PhD - ECC Mental Health Care Provider
• Kim Nguyen Pierce, PhD - Supervising Psychologist,
DMH-Coastal API Family MHC
• Jenny Nguyen – Mental Health Services Coordinator – Los
Angeles County Department of Mental Health
• Maria Ho, LMFT - Mental Health Clinical Supervisor, Los
Angeles County Department of Mental Health, South Bay
Mental Health Center
24. AWI Ambassadors
• You’re invited! Continue the conversation, be
a leader!
• Join the AWI Ambassadors FB group and
connect with students across North America:
www.facebook.com/groups/awiambassadors/
• Blog, be a juror for the film competition, run
campaigns, and much more!
25. Thank you for coming!
• Contact us: info@artwithimpact.org
• Follow us!
• Submit a film!
https://www.artwithimpact.org/films/submit-a-film/
Notes de l'éditeur
Campus organizer (may) introduce facilitator
Brief introduction – welcome, name
Encourage people to come closer
Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and document this event - we’d love to see your photos!
Brief agenda review:
- will give you a brief summary of AWI
- set the stage together, which really means that as a group we’ll have a discussion and provide a context for the topics
- we have four short films from our library to show you, together we’ll discuss the themes
- Make it personal with a panel of campus and community resources to connect you with
- You’ll be doing most of the talking today!
Mention photos - if you would prefer not to have your face in photos please inform us after the event
Who is AWI?
- we are a charity dedicated to reducing the stigma of mental illness with transition-aged youth, work in regions throughout North America
- we have been working primarily in California since 2011 and in the last year and a half expanded to three areas of Canada, as well as the New England area in the U.S. (if applicable)
- We host an ongoing monthly short film competition where filmmakers anywhere in the world can submit a film on the topic of mental health, these are juried and monthly winners receive $1,000 cash prize (will tell you more about that at the end of our time together)
- We then take these winning films and facilitate discussions in our postsecondary Movies for Mental Health program (you’ll see what this is all about today) and run a high school program that teaches media literacy to youth and allows them to make their own short films on mental health
- Also a part of a larger global community, release blogs twice a week on feature length films, or film festivals related to themes of mental illness
Brought to you by:
- mention any nonprofit partners or corporate sponsors
STUDENT HEALTH CENTER here at El Camino College
PROP 63 The passage of Proposition 63 (now known as the Mental Health Services Act or MHSA) in November 2004, provides the first opportunity in many years for the California Department of Mental Health (DMH) to provide increased funding, personnel and other resources to support county mental health programs and monitor progress toward statewide goals for children, transition age youth, adults, older adults and families. The Act addresses a broad continuum of prevention, early intervention and service needs and the necessary infrastructure, technology and training elements that will effectively support this system./
Want to explain what I mean about this statement…
Mental health is personal and our experiences are different,
we all come from different backgrounds and cultures –
YOU are the experts on YOU and know yourself better than anyone else
We don’t often talk about mental health; as a society we don’t tend to talk about issues/experiences related to this theme, so sometimes we don’t know HOW to talk about these topics.
First and foremost keep yourself safe today, don’t feel compelled to share anything you’re not comfortable with. This is a new space and you might feel ready to share but might not know what responses you’ll have, and it is a public space with no guaranteed confidentially so be mindful of the space that we are in before you disclose.
Some of the films might be triggering, meaning they might elicit an emotional reaction. The films are very powerful and it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed, so take the time you need to re-group and be present here. I encourage you to take note of how you’re feeling and investigate that / nurture that after the workshop. We have counsellors in the room today that are here to help you if you need to step out (say names of counsellors, have them raise their hands in the audience).
Pre-slide: With that in mind, let’s get started by providing a context and setting the stage for the messages we receive in the media.
Ask Q
Think about the characters in the films you shared, what are some adjectives you’d use to describe those characters, how have the characters been portrayed?
We see a lot of extremes here, ie. Really special, really problematic
1 in 5 of us, 20% of us have a diagnosable mental illness each year (1 in 3 or even 1 in 2 have a MI in our lifetime), consider how these labels influence us. (Optional to save until next slides)
Mental Health is a big topic, and can include so many different things. We all have mental health, the same way that we all have physical health. Today, we’ll be exploring two topics that fall under the umbrella of Mental Health.
We use the term often, let’s work together to craft definitions according to your thoughts
For us in this room at this workshop it doesn’t matter what anyone says, we don’t need clinical definitions but how do we define and what does it feel like for us.
This is a term that we might not hear as often. What might it mean? What are some mental wellness practices? How does mental wellness relate to mental illness? Can you have a mental illness and still be mentally well?
Helping think about themselves as more than a disease.
5 in 5 of us have mental health, it is a universal experience, something we can agree we need to nourish and take care of, influences all aspects of our lives.
Mention brief blurb about the film – won our competition in <YEAR>, sentence about the filmmaker
Jessica Jones Bay Area Filmmaker
Diana works with media and non profits in the Bay Area
Instituto de la Raza in SFO Mission District
They wanted to show a real client’s struggle - a window into the internal dialogue, specifically with the Latino population.
Segue theme of film – stigma- into next slide
What the film really addressed here is stigma. We know stigma exists and we talk a lot about it in relation to mental illness, but how would you really define it?
Discuss stereotypes v. stigma - stereotypes can be negative or positive, stigma is always negative
Stigma is false
Stigma easily internalized and we believe them about ourselves
Ie. all girls are bad at sports v. all boys are good at sports (neither is true but one is positive)
Stigma can be experienced in a number of ways, and not solely related to mental illness…
Knowing that this is something we have all experienced in some shape or form, how does stigma feel?
Comments/ Questions that can be added about stigma specifically:
- stigma creates barriers to understanding
- stigma defines someone as only one aspect of who they are, when this label doesn’t fit who you are it’s a frustrating feeling
- If someone mentions stereotypes; difference between stereotypes and stigma is stereotypes can be positive or negative, sometimes funny, however stigma is always negative and feels awful, dehumanizing
- There are various types of stigma – cultural and self-stigma; this can snowball and create really negative experiences
- Believing the self-stigma (and it’s completely human to do so) can be dangerous when we internalize, become very hard on ourselves.
- It’s not a true/false, it’s a societal construct
- Impact of stigma in accessing resources (what is?)
Segue into films:
We are here today taking the first step by talking about these experiences, learning through films to combat stigma and learn from one another. These feelings, these byproducts of being stigmatized is why it’s so important to have these supportive and compassionate conversations / listening to one another is an incredibly powerful way to battle stigma
We’re fighting the feelings that stigma brings out in humans that makes people feel they can’t reach out, can’t get help...really hard to break through. This is something that we can work together to fight.
So, on that note, let’s watch the first film!
Mention when film came into library, brief note about filmmaker
Originally from Boston, Karen Hua is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan where she studied English and psychology.
She writes about the intersection between digital culture and education as a contributor for Forbes and USA Today College.
She is also the TV/New Media editor for The Michigan Daily where she reviews television shows and explores community culture. Her passion for entertainment sparked her interest in filmmaking that led her to her directorial debut, “Three.”
The story is largely personal, stemming from her childhood growing up with an OCD mother and her own struggles with depression and anxiety. Drawing inspiration from these personal experiences, she aimed to create an accurate portrayal of the perseverance of those with mental illness despite its debilitating effects
In an academic environment it can be challenging to discuss feelings and emotions where thoughts are more abstract, but encourage students to challenge themselves
Feelings represent important feedback and it’s important to listen to them.
Turn to your neighbours in small groups and discuss these questions, we will come back together in a few minutes.
Communicate a signal for getting students’ attention?
Can provide an example of a thought and/or feeling to get the group started.
Live document responses, paraphrasing and summarizing
Mention when film came into library, brief note about filmmaker
Lisa Toppari from Ontario, Canada, is a photographer and videographer. Lisa is currently studying video and photography at Durham College. Her film 'Not Just a Phase' won Art With Impact's February 2016 mental health short film competition.
Lisa works hard to develop art that speaks both to herself and others about inspiring subjects that will spark up a conversation.
She try’s to emphasize the beauty of what we see in our daily lives, by capturing those moments and turning it into art.
When watching the film encourage you to remain aware of how the film makes you feel, and what the film makes you think and we’ll break into groups afterward to discuss.
Invite audience to divide into groups again (maybe encourage new groups?), allow 5 minutes for discussion before coming back together.
Live document responses, paraphrasing and summarizing
Mention when film came into library, brief note about filmmaker
The Blind Stigma is a documentary that discusses mental health within the Black community. It chronicles and testifies the stories of five individuals on their trials and triumphs with mental health. One of those individuals happens to be the producer director Stacy-Ann.
The Blind Stigma powerfully removes the veil of shame that clouds the topic of mental illness in the Black community, challenge that misconception, give a voice to Black Canadians living with mental illness and leaves the audience more informed and empowered.
When watching the film encourage you to remain aware of how the film makes you feel, and what the film makes you think and we’ll break into groups afterward to discuss.
Invite audience to divide into groups again (maybe encourage new groups?), allow 5 minutes for discussion before coming back together.
Transition directly into large group responses, no small group discussions
Thank audience for participation.
After having these conversations and processing new and/or complicated information we can feel a little lost, and here is when we want to provide concrete opportunities to engage and continue this discussion. We don’t often talk this in-depth, we have people here for you to help digest this information and provide information about services.
Fortunate enough to have students sharing stories, panelist experts from your campus, and mental health professionals/ resources in your community here today to inform you of ways you can support your mental health.
Will tell you about ways you can engage with us (AWI) just before we break for good.
Now will invite our panelists to come up, and in the meantime will hand out evaluations which are really valuable to us for improving our programming and keeping it relevant. Will also assist your school in knowing how to better serve you.
Moderate the panel discussion – Introduce all panelists when inviting them up.
Students typically speaking first (check in with them to ensure this is okay for them), indicate which panelist will speak next throughout.
Q&A
Invite students to ask questions to panelists while monitoring time.
Encourage students to view booths or resource tables before leaving
Close out the panel and give (or have volunteer hand-out) panelist thank you gifts
AWI exists to create a community of students, artists, advocates, who want to have these conversations...if you’re interested in staying in touch with us and becoming a part of a larger community of students across N. America who believe in the power of art to subvert stigma
Mention ways students can reach out, contact us with feedback or comments.
Encourage film submissions – we’d love to see your films, competition is ongoing
We are on many forms of social media, reach out!
We have a sign-up list here if you’re interested in learning about other events and workshops, reading our blogs, etc.
I’ll be here if you have any questions for me specifically.
Thank the group again and close out discussion