m4mh

1. Movies for
Mental Health
Cecil College
October 24, 2019
@artwithimpact
#Movies4MentalHealth

2. About Your Facilitator
L’Oréal McCollum
L’Oréal McCollum, MSW, M.Ed.,
is a sexuality and mental health
educator, consultant, and actress,
based in Philadelphia. She is
thrilled to be working with AWI to
create space for young people to
learn and connect through art and
media - two of her greatest loves.
IG: @lorealmccollum

3. Brought to you by…
• Campus workshops
• Monthly short film competition
• Short film production grants
• Global community
#Movies4MentalHealth
Kristin Rita Strouse Foundation
Dedicated to mental health awareness,
suicide prevention, and healing, in
honor of Kristin Rita Strouse.
MD Psych Foundation
mdpsychfoundation.org

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

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

6. 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

7. Mental Health
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

9. 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?

10. Some movies and tv shows that
show mental illness…
13 Reasons Why
The Joker
Silence of the Lambs
Fury
Beautiful Minds
United States of Tara
Spilt/Glass
One day at a Time
Taxi Driver
One who flew over the cukoo nest
This is Us
#Movies4MentalHealth

11. Characters with mental illness
are portrayed as…
Manic
Victim
Violence
“Broken”
“Crazy”
Weak
Sympathetic
Destructive
Misunderstood
Left out
Lost
#Movies4MentalHealth

12. Stigma vs.
Stereotype
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

14. How does stigma feel?
Frustrating
Unfair
Isolating
Suffocating
Dead end
Broken
Embarassing
Painful
Reductive
Lonely
Disapointing
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

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

17. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
People go through alone
Public is unaware
Both perspectives
People come together/share an
illness
Ends with a therapy like
session (circle seating)
Obsession with number (could
be centering)
Feelings
Hurt
Need to modify behavior
Surprised to male eating
disorder/female with OCD

18. How did the filmmaking
techniques help tell the story?
Characters quiet and silent (use body
language)
Zoomed in on face/actions
Both sides of life (insiders and outsiders)
Level of intensity with intro (tapping)
Sounds helps audience center to feelings
#Movies4MentalHealth

19. Desiderium
By Maeve O’Haire
AWI Winner, September 2019
Content heads up: suicide loss, grief
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

21. What did you think? What did you feel?
Thoughts
Roles were swapped
Fighting was part of illness
Girlfriend was not 100 percent
honest (anger with loss)
Film should show grief help
Recording was important for
grief (could be a type of
therapy)
Shameful behavior
Perspective of depression
Letter from boyfriend was
closure
Death was the final answer
Feelings
Sense of failure
Relatable
Anger from both sides

22. Why don’t people get help?
Do not know resources/awareness
Unaware of problem
Do not want to be the problem
Hard to discuss
Lack of resources (funding, insurance,
transportation etc)
Limited sessions/intervention
Afraid of judgement/stigma
Against cultural norms/mental healthcare is
taboo
Invisible illness
#Movies4MentalHealth

23. Sal Tran
By Kim Huynh
AWI Winner, March 2018
Content heads up: rape, depression, suicidal ideation,
cultural oppression. Protagonist uses they/them pronouns.
#Movies4MentalHealth

24. Responses and Reactions?
#Movies4MentalHealth
Good message of isolation vs community
Self improvement values and secretive society
Realness of process, not a linear
Different perspective of queer community & cultural background
Name/awareness of illness is relieving
Found freedom in self

25. What can we do?
Always be able to listen, open to listening. Give alternatives to contacting
Be honest and share experiences for the greater good/community (when
person is ready)
#Movies4MentalHealth

26. Panel
#Movies4MentalHealth

27. Meet the Panel
Kaitlin Magaw
Cecil College Student
Mark Lee
Cecil College Student
Tressa Bell
Cecil College Student
Robyn Hunt
Coordinator of Disability & Support Services
Cecil College
Roberta Johnson
Cecil County Health Department
#Movies4MentalHealth

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