M4MH

1. Movies for
Mental Health
American River College
September 25, 2019
@artwithimpact
#Movies4MentalHealth

2. Brought to you by…
• Campus workshops
• Monthly short film competition
• Short film production grants
• Global community
• Mental Health Services Act (2004)
• 1% tax on people earning >$1m/year
• 20% to prevention and early intervention
#Movies4MentalHealth

3. Here’s the Plan
• Quick Introduction
• Setting the scene together
• Mental Health
• Stigma
• Watch and discuss films
• Panel of students and resources
#Movies4MentalHealth

4. Where were you right before
coming to the workshop?
#Movies4MentalHealth

5. Heads Up
• Mental health is personal – YOU are the expert on
your own experience
• Public space – no confidentiality
• It’s okay to feel!
• Films and conversations might be triggering
• Please take care of yourself however you need,
including asking for help
• If you don’t want your photo taken, please let us know
#Movies4MentalHealth

6. Mental Health
#Movies4MentalHealth

7. Mental Health
• Mental illness
• Mental wellness
#Movies4MentalHealth

8. MH Across Languages and
Cultures
If English is not your first language, does your
language have words for mental health, mental
illness and mental wellness?
Do these concepts exist in your home culture?

9. Some movies and tv shows that
show mental illness…
Criminal
Dangerous
Dramatic
Weak
Violent
Needy
Hopeless
Dependent
Psychotic
Murder/Killer
Selfish
Manic
Vulnerable #Movies4MentalHealth

10. Characters with mental illness
are portrayed as…
Rainman
Split
Girl Interrupted
Scent of A woman
Beautiful MInd
One Flew Over the cuckoos Nest
Batman
Psycho
13 Reasons Why
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Alice
United States of Tara
Gothika #Movies4MentalHealth

11. Stigma vs.
Stereotype
#Movies4MentalHealth

12. Stigma
•A judgment or stereotype that is:
• Always negative
• Always untrue
• Can be internalized
#Movies4MentalHealth

13. How does stigma feel?
Hurtful
Exclusive
Depressing
Shameful
Hopeless
Debilitating
Silencing
Oppressive
Taboo
#Movies4MentalHealth

14. Three
By Karen Hua
AWI Winner, June 2015
Content heads up: obsessive compulsive disorder,
social anxiety, bulimia
#Movies4MentalHealth

15. Discuss in groups of three…
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
#Movies4MentalHealth

16. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
So much being said without
anything being said - seeing
what people go though
Surprising you can be sitting
next to someone and not know
what they’re going through
Representation in showing a
black man with an eating
disorder
Challenges assumptions - the
graceful dancer has OCD
Feelings
People felt out of place - gave
them anxiety attacks - when
they were all together, there
was support - there’s power in
a group - didn’t feel alone
Felt understood -esp with
eating disorder
Identified with ripping up the
paper - anger and anxiety,
even though she’s a smaller
person

17. How did the filmmaking
techniques help tell the story?
Integration of sound was really sound was
appropriate - sound built up and then shut off
Portrayals of the characters challenged
assumptions
Didn’t focus too much on one character - ease
out - not as triggering
Final shot - all together, seem okay, even
though they’re not
Camerawork - camera would focus on those
things when characters were feeling intense
Liked how the camera work conveyed the
anxiety
#Movies4MentalHealth

18. Touch Me Don’t Touch Me
By Lucie Rachel
AWI Winner, October 2018
Content heads up: sexual assault
#Movies4MentalHealth

19. Discuss in groups of three…
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?
#Movies4MentalHealth

20. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
Two men, not a man and a
woman
Started off really gentle, then
turned so the movement
matched the words
Big stigma - if you like it it’s not
rape
Confused about who was the
aggressor
Maybe they were both the
aggressor - a lover can be the
aggressor - trying to pressure
someone
Feelings
Anxious - afraid it was going to
get violent
Identified with wanting to be
intimate, but that brings you
back
Punch in the chest - feeling
guilt about enjoying it
Felt the betrayal
Felt a conflict between nature
and exp - should be beautiful,
but it becomes ugly
It’s hard to separate the past exp
with what’s happening now
Harder to talk about compared
to previous film

21. Why don’t people get help?
Embarassment
Shame
Fear
Pride
Protecting people that assaulted
Judgement
Not relive whatever happened
Masculinity - social stigma for men “man up”
Not having access to health
What is help? - Statistically, it could make it
worse
Feel they won’t find a cure or solution
Not having a network #Movies4MentalHealth

22. Release
By Julie Bayer Salzman and Josh Salzman
AWI Winner, June 2018
Content heads up: anxiety
#Movies4MentalHealth

23. Responses and Reactions?
#Movies4MentalHealth
Guilty - have a sibling that’s in middle school, sometimes dismissed
My seven year old is already stressed out
Lovely that it was in first person - adult wasn’t shown completely
Stressed out listening to kids talking - felt relieved during the meditation
Feeling the beginning of the movie was everyday life for me - nice to see
meditation - Optional
Appreciated them talking about stuff - sound was intensifying - bowl cut
through
Felt empathy for middle schoolers

24. What can we do?
Be open minded to what others are going thru
Self-care and wellness tools - whatever makes you happy
Slow down and listen to people
Being supportive
Learn to understand that challenges can happen to anyone at any age
Advocate - go to meetings on mental health, share concerns
Different support groups - don’t try to fix, listen
Seeking help
Trying to understand where people are in their journey
#Movies4MentalHealth

25. Panel
#Movies4MentalHealth

26. Meet the Panel
Jareth (they/them)
American River College Student
Benji Luzada (he/him)
American River College Student
Eric Bailey
Connection Recovery Support Group Coordinator / Facilitator,
NAMI Sacramento
Cathy Frey
Performance Improvement Manager, WellSpace Health
Amelia Garnica
NorCal MHA S.A.F.E. Program, Sacramento Advocacy for
Family Empowerment (and former ARC student)
#Movies4MentalHealth

27. Stay in touch!
Don’t forget to leave your name
and email on the sign-up sheet!
@artwithimpact
info@artwithimpact.org
#Movies4MentalHealth