This document summarizes a mental health event held at Kennebec Valley Community College on March 28, 2018. It included a quick introduction, screening of short films about mental health issues, and a discussion panel. The event was aimed at reducing stigma around mental illness and encouraging help-seeking behavior. Attendees discussed their reactions to the films and how stigma feels. Common reasons people don't seek help include worries about costs, privacy, and being labeled. Suggestions for improving mental health included continuing open conversations, creating supportive communities, and addressing barriers to accessing resources and treatment. The panel then introduced counselors and students to discuss their perspectives on mental health.
1. Movies for Mental Health
Kennebec Valley Community College
March 28, 2018
@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)
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. Stigma
A judgment or stereotype that is:
1. Always negative
2. Always untrue
3. Can be internalized
7. What did you notice about stigma?
-Society’s stigma, also self stigma, had thoughts of what mental illness meant,
didn’t want to be like “crazy person”
- Upbringing- mother encouraging her to not share troubles
-Judgment from child, weighs a lot on parent
-Husband, saying she’s useless
8. How does stigma feel?
-Angry
-Frustrating
-Lonely, think you’re the only one going through it. So many cultural issues,
unemployment, feel like no one would understand
- Different, makes you feel different from others
- Isolated
- Judgment, feels like the magnifying glass is on you
- like you’re a burden
11. Some movies that show mental illness:
American Psycho
American Sniper
Full Metal Jacket
Silver Linings Playbook
Little Miss Sunshine
Blown Away
A Beautiful Mind
A Marine’s Guide to Fishing
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
Riding The Bus With My Sister
Rain Man
Me Myself and Irene
12. Characters with mental illness are portrayed as:
- Violent
- Weak
- Very Smart/genius
- Heroic
- Delerious
15. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
- liked the comparison of coming
on slow or fast
Feelings
- Symbolism of the flour- felt
shortness of breath and
heaviness, being closed in and
alone
- skin is crawling
- Sounds that were played gave
me anxiety
- Felt like a loss of control and
how scary that must be
18. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
- interesting that the symbolism of
“tough” tattoo but showing the
struggle- stigma in military
- So distraught and wrapped up in
thoughts that help was there the
whole time
- In the military, you give help and
solve problems for others. Turn
turn it around and ask for self, he
fought against the tree,
“himself”, before able to get
help.
- tree= himself, sand pile= talking
to others and finding help
Feelings
- physically affected me, rock in
throat, pit of stomach. I can
relate so closely to that. I could
play that character. Chained to
memories of his past.
- Tiring- carrying that around,
exhausting
- Feeling hopeless, trying to hard
- relief after chain dropped
19. Why don’t people get help?
- money
- Media- recent mass shootings, first word is “mentally ill people should not
have guns”. Can’t lump everybody into one category. I didn’t seek help, I
served country for 10 years and if I seek help, I’ll be categorized as
“mentally ill”. Don’t want to be in that class.
- Time, business, so much time is spent in your life, other responsibilities
- Fear of future endeavors, many jobs do background checks, look at
references re: mental health.
- Lack of knowledge of resources
- Fear of opening up to a stranger, fear of judgment
- Don’t want to be labled
- Cultural pieces, culture says we don’t talk to people or ask for help, “stay
in the family”
22. What can we do?
- never stop talking about it
- create a community that’s acceptable
- having more intentional spaces for conversations like this
- Bringing Melissa here, having counselor in the campus community, one of
us
- Breaking down the barriers to access services
- financial, insurance, transportation, wait lists, childcare barrier
- With younger kids, speaking about empathy
- Being able to listen, just to listen, not just having a solution or judgment,
- not think that you have all the answers
- Many people reflect back, “beat” the story, might push person away
- Have information and resources available
- Being vulnerable in person and on social media to break the “we’re
perfect” persona.
- internet trolls are STRONG. Educate people that social media isn’t
always the best place to share your stories.
23. Meet the Panel
• Richard Poulin - KVCC Student
• Cassie Carpenter - KVCC Student
• Noah Patnaude - KVCC Student
• Melissa Clement - School Counselor, KVCC
• Karen Normandin - Dean of Students, KVCC
• Michelle LeClair - The Family Violence Project
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 in the US and Canada since 2011
- 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
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 confidentiality 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. It’s ok to feel! But if you ever feel that you are not OK, or unsafe, please do what you need to do to take care of yourself. 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).
FIRST - ask for one or two people to define “stereotype.” Really just one or two - NOT a big discussion.
THEN, name that stigma and stereotype are often used interchangeably, but stigma has a few distinct qualities. Quick definition. Provide a little explanation of the third point - we can take in these judgments and believe them about ourselves, even though they’re untrue. For example, if everyone tells me that having depression is just being lazy, it’s possible that I could start to believe that myself, that I’m just lazy and don’t need to seek support.
Do a quick check to see if everyone gets it and is on board - again, not a big discussion, but a “thumbs up” check or see if they’re generally nodding
15 minutes into the workshop
Can close this slide by naming that yes, stigma can be a huge negative aspect of our experience, but it’s not permanent. Through conversations like these, and by sharing our truths, we can change stigma, and reduce it, and ultimately, get rid of it entirely.
25 minutes into the workshop
Introduce ways that AWI holds some concepts around MH - these may change over time, terms are evolving.
Quick slide: We see mental health as an umbrella in that it is something that we are all existing under, and experiencing. Mental health can include many aspects of life. It’s our internal way of seeing the world, and something we all have and experience. Like physical health, we all have mental health, and things within and outside of ourselves can affect our mental health. Things outside of the MH umbrella, like culture, spirituality, physical health, support systems, etc. can affect our MH.
There’s lots of intersectionality and influences when it comes to MH.
There can be embedded and systemic influences (such as histories of oppression, privilege, access to services) and other components that influence the way we as individuals experience MH.
MI and MW are concepts that fall under the umbrella of MH.
MI can be defined as when uncontrollable things happening within you and/or influenced by other things get in the way of you living the life you want to live. This can arise from trauma or be circumstantial, and can also be influenced by genetics and biology. Mental illness diagnoses are helpful for some, and for others provide more of a shared language. MI may differ between how society defines it and how we define it for ourselves.
MW means feeling “well” - however you define it - in your mind and spirit. It can include practices and behaviors that support you and help you feel and be your best self. Like physical health, it requires maintenance. We don’t hold these as opposites - you can have symptoms of a mental illness, and engage in mental wellness practices. You can also not have symptoms of a MI, but still not be mentally well, if you don’t have ways of supporting your internal (and external) self.
Can close up this slide by saying yes, media portrayals are overall negative, but there are artists and filmmakers out there making films that can change this. Many of our films are made by people with lived experience, and share their genuine truths.
35 minutes into the workshop
50 minutes into the workshop
***CAN SKIP SLIDE IF RUNNING LOW ON TIME*** Ideally, you will be able to use this slide, as it can lead to a great discussion about stigma, and how different stigmas (and other factors) can keep people from seeking support. If you think you’re running out of time, try to prompt this question in the previous “thoughts / feelings” slide so it’s at least touched on, even if you don’t use this slide.
1 hour and 5 minutes into the workshop
This slide is to give space to discussing the last film, but isn’t an in-depth thoughts/feelings slide. It should be a group conversation (not small groups), and just take a few people’s reactions to the film. Depending on time, you might need to move on quickly, but if you have time, feel free to let this be an open discussion about the film.
From what we’ve learned - actions we may be drawn to take. Be sure to encourage responses that relate to what we can do as friends, family members, and community members of people with MI, AND ALSO make sure they address what we can do for ourselves, i.e. mental wellness practices.
1 hour and 20 minutes into the workshop
“Now will invite our panelists to come up. We will hear from the students, sharing their personal stories. We’re so grateful for their courage in sharing their stories! We will also hear from resources on-campus and in the community. After the panelists all speak, you will have a chance to ask the panel any questions you have. If you need to leave early, please do so respectfully, and please make sure to fill out an evaluation before you leave. This information is super helpful for us in making sure we and your school are serving your needs as well as we can. We will also pass these out at the end of the workshop.” **Applause for panelists!**
They will then speak in order of how they are in the slide. At the end, you will invite questions from the audience.
1 hour and 55 minutes into the workshop
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