Slides from UWaterloo Movies For Mental Health (Sexual Violence Focus)

1. #Movies4MentalHealth
Panelists
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Welcome, everyone!
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Mental Health Support
Make sure you are logged in with
an asterisk in front of your
name: *Alex Reynolds (they/them)

2. #Movies4MentalHealth
@artwithimpact
#Movies4MentalHealth
HOSTED BY:
CREATING SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES
FOR SURVIVORS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

3. #Movies4MentalHealth
About Your Facilitator
Beth Killian, she/her
• Based in Rhode Island
• Recent MSW grad
• Musician, Songwriter, Dancer
• Hopeful Music/Movement
Therapist

4. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: Who’s here today?
A
Student at
UWaterloo
C
B
#Movies4MentalHealth
Faculty/staff at
UWaterloo
Somebody else

5. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: Where in the
world are you?
Ontario
A
C
B
#Movies4MentalHealth
Another
province
Another country

6. #Movies4MentalHealth
○ Campus workshops
○ Monthly short film competition
○ Short film production grants
○ Global community
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Individual Sponsors
○ Ivonne Hammoud, New Moon Counselling
○ Joe White, Wings to Fly Counselling
○ Jessica Miller, Personal Wellness Centre

7. #Movies4MentalHealth
HERE’S THE PLAN
● Setting the scene together
○ Mental Health
○ Sexual Violence
○ Stigma
● Watch and discuss films, connect our
minds and bodies
● Panel of students and resources
● Evaluation (and a chance to enter to
win a wellness bundle!)
● Virtual Mingle / Q&A

8. #Movies4MentalHealth
Mental health is personal – YOU are the expert
on your own experience
Sexual violence is personal and impacts mental
health in many different ways
We are online - this is a public, shared space
We are recording this session for internal
training and evaluation purposes
Please take care of yourself however you
need, including asking for help
HEADS UP
#Movies4MentalHealth

9. #Movies4MentalHealth
NEED SUPPORT?
Access mental health support throughout this workshop.
Click Shared Notes
to link to online
resources
Private Chat mental health pros.
They are at the top and have * next
to their names
#1 #2
#Movies4MentalHealth

10. #Movies4MentalHealth
3 WAYS TO ENGAGE
We welcome your participation!
CHAT BOX: Use the
Public Chat to connect
with the whole group
#1
#Movies4MentalHealth

11. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: respond
to a Poll when
prompted
#2
Set Your Status by
clicking on your name
and selecting from
the drop-down menu
#3
3 WAYS TO ENGAGE
We welcome your participation!
#Movies4MentalHealth

12. #Movies4MentalHealth
If you need tech
support, ask…
Look for the person whose name begins with
AWI Support and Private Chat them with any issues.
#Movies4MentalHealth

13. #Movies4MentalHealth
IN JUST A FEW WORDS...
What has self-care been
looking like for you these days?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Spending time with my dog!
● Pilates
● Ordering $35 worth of Pizza Pizza (:
● Music
● Teleparty
● Gym time
● Painting
● Deciding the assignment can wait - it's time to go for a run
● Lots of sleep
● Meditation
● Eating and drinking regularly
● For me it means just taking a couple minutes a day to go for a walk and
Journaling
● Singing along to musicals
● Bubble baths!
● Candles
● Reading
● Wingspan (boardgame)
● Baking and cooking
● Fermenting things

14. #Movies4MentalHealth
MENTAL HEALTH

15. #Movies4MentalHealth
Mental illness
Mental wellness
MENTAL HEALTH

16. #Movies4MentalHealth
WHAT IS STIGMA?
A judgment or stereotype that is:
○ Always negative
○ Always untrue
○ Can be internalized

17. #Movies4MentalHealth
Sexual Violence Survivor
#Movies4MentalHealth
○ Personal definition
○ Has been through a potentially traumatic experience,
or set of experiences, involving sexual or intimate acts
○ Experience was against their wishes
○ and/or crossed a boundary that they had set
○ and/or left them feeling violated, used, scared,
unsafe or hurt

18. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN
SEXUAL VIOLENCE DEPICTED IN
THE MEDIA?
A Yes
C
B
#Movies4MentalHealth
No
Can’t
Remember

19. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: DO YOU RECALL SEEING
DEPICTIONS OF THE VIOLENCE
ITSELF?
A Yes
C
B
#Movies4MentalHealth
No
Can’t
Remember

20. #Movies4MentalHealth
POLL: DO YOU RECALL SEEING
DEPICTIONS OF THE SURVIVOR’S
HEALING PROCESS AFTER THE
VIOLENCE?
A Yes
C
B
#Movies4MentalHealth
No
Can’t
Remember

21. #Movies4MentalHealth
REFLECTING ON OUR ANSWERS TO
THESE QUESTIONS:
#Movies4MentalHealth
WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST THOUGHTS?
● I would say the ratio of seeing it depicted versus seeing that healing can
happen afterwards is 1000000:1
● healing typically takes much longer than the incidence of violence and
often involves several modalities
● Ee don’t often see different ways of healing
● Sexual violence seems to be used as a plot point rather than the main
focus of many pieces of media
● I saw a TikTok once which said that apocalypse movies are likely to show
sexual violence but still won't show women with body hair
● media tends to go for the shock factor and it's more about the act
● Thinking how often I try to share warning if I talk about any media that
depicts violence more than I did in the past. Trying to let folks know.
● [Shows and movies] don't go further than the struggle with the violence
and if the perpetrator is held accountable or not. Then they move on to
the next thing.
● I'd love to see survivors who are complex people - not just 'hurt'
● Violence against women is almost always sexual
● Survivors in media are almost never male identifying

22. 1-800-656-4673
By Lauren Plattman
AWI Winner, October 2020
CONTENT HEADS UP
social isolation, mention of sexual assault

23. #Movies4MentalHealth
What did you think/
How did you feel?
#Movies4MentalHealth
Local 24 hr Support Line (SASC): 519-741-8633
● So sad
● Tense
● Thoughtful
● Tearful
● Heaviness indeed
● So so heavy
● Painful
● I felt overwhelmed for the protagonist
● So glad that offices like SVPRO are there to support students with
all the academic pressure on top of healing
● it felt super realistic. not dramatic. i forgot i was watching a fictional
film for a second
it was good to see the friends caring but it can be overwhelming not
feeling like you're in a place to talk about it
● my first thought is to acknowledge the creativity as a means of
avoiding my negative feelings
● Suffocating

24. #Movies4MentalHealth
How might stigma impact survivors of
sexual violence?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Self blame
● A thought may be they were asking for it and it's their fault
● That they deserved it
● Difficulty in coming forward to support network (family, friends, etc.)
● Normalizing the situation.
● The boyfriend was trying to suggest it was no big deal, and that they were
being too sensitive
● I've had profs ask me for proof of being mentally unwell in order to get
extensions before ): i feel as though there's a lot of assumptions of laziness in it
● That it happened with their partner and thus it cannot be sexual violence
● That asking for the extensions or support is a weakness... when it is not. Self
care
● Also possible self invalidation, thinking it wasn't as bad as others so their
experience isn't valid or important
● Fear that the people they tell will downplay what happened
● Hard to tell if their friends really like boyfriend - likely harder to talk about sv if
others believe he wouldn’t do that
● I was really moved by the way the protagonist seemed to be looking back on
pictures of herself when she looked happy, before

25. #Movies4MentalHealth
BREATHING
EXERCISE

26. #Movies4MentalHealth
HOW WAS THIS BREATHING
EXERCISE FOR YOU?
#Movies4MentalHealth
A Relaxing
C
B
D
E
Invigorating
or refreshing
Meh
Stressful or
uncomfortable
New

27. If I Told You
By Dominique Nieves
Voices With Impact 2019
CONTENT HEADS UP
impacts of sexual violence, rape kit and police reporting procedures

28. #Movies4MentalHealth
What is one word to describe how you’re
feeling right now?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Frustrated
● Angry
● Tense
● Pure anger
● Sad
● Uneasy
● Heartbroken
● Upset
● Resigned
● Disappointed
● Bewildered
● I have friends who believes in being "in the middle" for the
perpetrator and survivor, which has been really astonishing and
upsetting for me - it makes me not want to talk about anything

29. #Movies4MentalHealth
What makes it difficult to reach out
for help?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● I have friends who believes in being "in the middle" for the perpetrator and
survivor, which has been really astonishing and upsetting for me - it makes me
not want to talk about anything
● stigma, fallout, fear, guilt
● it's hard to relive the trauma
● Every person in that video personifies exactly why people don't reach out
(minus the survivor)
● fear of not being believed or having your past used against you
● stigma and possibly being seen as vulnerable
● The intrinsic nature of stigma, most people don't react how these people did
explicitly but it is ingrained in a subtle way in the way people react. The victim
feels it
● invalidation, especially after you make the effort to reach out and be
vulnerable
● also her friend saying that she 'dumped it on her'
● the impacts on the survivor post-sharing
● NOT TRAUMA INFORMED DOCTORS OR POLICE
● having negative repercussions after reaching out (her friend telling her how
people would just call her a whore because he was well liked)
● the doctor judging her for being on birth control despite being single
● Being pressured to do something you don't want to. Like pushed to keep quiet
or pushed to make a report when you don’t feel ready.

30. #Movies4MentalHealth
If the main character was your friend and
told you what happened, what might you
say to her?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Ask what they want
● This wasn't your fault, this is not a reflection on you. Is there anything I
can do to support you?
● I believe you. I will advocate for you when you want me to
● "I believe you. And I will support you however you need.
● Empathize and direct her to the right resources
● I would try and offer up a safe space for her to come to me with whatever
she wants/needs
● So glad you remembered the information from that educational session
about the timeline for evidence kit if that was what you wanted to do.
How can I help?
● Don't push your agenda of what you think "she should do"
● When you don't know what you need, I will supply various options that
help me and maybe one of them will work
● You are very brave
● I'd want to let her effectively word vomit whatever she's feeling
● I'm so sorry this happened to you
● It’s okay to be overwhelmed when someone discloses and its okay to have
some boundaries about support, but it's not okay to say 'they dumped it
on you' or to make it about you and not them

31. #Movies4MentalHealth
BODY
SCAN

32. #Movies4MentalHealth
HOW WAS THE BODY
SCAN FOR YOU?
#Movies4MentalHealth
A Relaxing
C
B
D
E
Invigorating
or refreshing
Meh
Stressful or
uncomfortable
New

33. Sal Tran
By Kim Huynh
AWI Winner, March 2018
CONTENT HEADS UP
mentions of: sexual violence, suicide attempts, systemic oppression,
depression, anxiety, substance use, and PTSD

34. #Movies4MentalHealth
What is one word to describe how you’re
feeling right now?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Thankful for the recognition of trans experiences of sexual violence.
Appreciate the acknowledgment of various coping strategies
without additional blame <3
● Vulnerable
● Inspiring
● Optimistic
● Empowering
● Strong
● Grateful for the recognition that "curing "mental illness isn't the end
goal all the time, living with it is
● The thing that stuck out to me was growth and recovery isn't linear,
there will be bad days but having the faith that you can keep going
through it.

35. #Movies4MentalHealth
What are some ways we can
support ourselves and others?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● Validate others (and our own) experiences
● Reach out for support
● Find ways we like to be creative
● Being patient
● Make the space to converse
● Creating a community for ourselves
● Practice safe social (like limiting time spent on socials)
● Recognize everyone's unique struggles
● Non judgemental of others but especially ourselves
● Be willing and aware of our shortcomings but open to new
experiences

36. #Movies4MentalHealth
PANEL
Digital round of applause
for our panel!
#Movies4MentalHealth

37. #Movies4MentalHealth
Art With Impact:
Continued Connections
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Exclusive community events and spaces
Arts-based discussion trainings
Interview and discussion opportunities
Weekly art + wellness prompts

38. #Movies4MentalHealth
MEET THE PANEL
bit.ly/m4mho-sv-uw
Sophia (she/her)
Student - University of Waterloo
Rachel Tyli (she/her)
Student - University of Waterloo - Graduate (Class of 2019 BASc.)
Meaghan Ross (she/elle)
Sexual Violence Response Coordinator, Sexual Violence Prevention
and Response Office, University of Waterloo
Jessica St. Peter (she/her)
Public Education Manager, Sexual Assault Support Centre of
Waterloo Region

39. #Movies4MentalHealth
Please fill out the evaluation!
@artwithimpact
info@artwithimpact.org
#Movies4MentalHealth
You can enter for a chance to win one of three Wellness Bundles
(weighted lap blankets, tea, chocolate, journals, fidget toys, SVPRO
swag, and more!)
If you are receiving credit for attending this workshop,
at the end of the evaluation, you’ll be prompted to add your
information to a sign-in sheet.
Evaluation responses will remain separate and anonymous.

40. #Movies4MentalHealth
Virtual Mingle / Panel Q&A
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send a private message to AWI Support / a panelist.
#Movies4MentalHealth

41. #Movies4MentalHealth
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@artwithimpact
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#Movies4MentalHealth