This document summarizes a workshop on movies for mental health held at Cal Poly Pomona on March 12, 2019. The workshop was facilitated by poet Natalie Patterson and included viewing and discussing short films about mental health issues. Participants considered how mental illness is portrayed in media and explored the stigma surrounding it. Panelists from campus counseling and health services then discussed ways to promote mental wellness, such as making therapy accessible, ending stigma through open dialogue, and teaching children to normalize discussion of mental health. The goal of the event was to use film to start important conversations around mental health issues and reducing related stigma.

1. Movies for
Mental Health
Cal Poly Pomona
March 12, 2019
Facilitator: Natalie Patterson
@artwithimpact
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

3. Meet your facilitator
Poet & Teaching Artist
Natalie Patterson
#Movies4MentalHealth
Natalieispoetry.com @Natalieispoetry

4. Here’s the Plan
• 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
• Photography - If you don’t want to be on IG, let me
know. #Movies4MentalHealth

7. Mental Health
#Movies4MentalHealth

8. ● Mental illness Mental wellness
(things that get in the way of living your best life) t((things that help us be our best selves)
#Movies4MentalHealth
Life Stressors

9. Can you think of any movies or tv
shows that show mental illness?
• Silence of the Lambs
• The Machinist
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Atypical
• The Good Doctor
• Bates Motel
• Psycho
• Thirteen Reasons Why
• Still Alice
• Luther
• The Bodyguard
• Jacob’s Ladder #Movies4MentalHealth

10. Characters with mental illness
are portrayed as…
• Villains
• Dangerous
• Outcasts
• The main character
• Sympathetic/Sad
• Highly intelligent/brilliant
• Sensitive
• Artistic
• Unhinged
• Awkward
• Dramatic
• Difficult
• Unpredictable
#Movies4MentalHealth

11. Stereotype
vs.
Stigma
#Movies4MentalHealth

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

13. How does stigma feel?
• Hurt
• Violated
• Frustrated
• Humiliated
• Unwanted
• Unloved
• Isolated
• Confused
• Spotlighted
• Uncomfortable
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
#Movies4MentalHealth

14. A Short Film
About Anxiety
By Lily Rose Thomas + Stephen Isaac-Wilson
AWI Winner, July 2018
#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
• Relatable
• Thought about coping
mechanisms
• Agreed with the film
commentary but thinks that
there could be more positive
dialogue
Feelings
• Anxiety inducing
• Chills
• Anxious at first but then felt
calmer at a certain point
• Felt a connection with the
person who spoke about
feeling anxiety when eye
contact is made on the
street.
• Empathy
• Overwhelmed by flashing
images and dialogue

17. How did the filmmaking
techniques help tell the story?
• Racing images and dialogue
• Music
• Limiting the view of the audience (camera
angle: vertical; felt confined)
• The actors used portrayed anxiety
• Bathtub scene
• Limited camera angle made it more personal
• Switch between docustyle and “IRL” scenes
#Movies4MentalHealth

18. Faded
By Rebecca Chiafullo
AWI Winner, December 2018
#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
• Liked the glimmer of hope to
hold onto
• Reminded of past depression
and resilience
• Liked this film over the first as
depression symptoms are more
common
• Impressed with film techniques,
quality and dialogue
• Liked how film was split in three
parts which is representative of
depression. Eg: good days/bad
days
• Liked the symbolism (e.g.
intro/outro shot)
Feelings
• Impressed
• Melancholy because
character/film maker is so
young
• Feels a lot slower; captured
by dialogue and film
technique
• Hopeful

21. Why don’t people get help?
• Because sometimes you don’t realize you need help. Or people pick up
on the “signs”.
• Fear of judgement. Feeling of being “less”.
• Getting help carries its own stigma, esp seeing a therapist.
• Ourselves (psych our own selves out).
• Cultural
• Sexism (men can have a harder time seeking help because it’s not
culturally acceptable)
• Sexism (expected of women; historically psych has been unfair to
women; undermining feminist ideals)
• “I can do this/handle this by myself”
• “It’s everyone else’s problem”; shifting the blame
• Fear of medication (or being overly medicated)
• Past negative experiences (medication, therapy, self-care, etc.)
• Financial barriers (help is not accessible to everyone; meds are costly)
• Help can be less accessible to adults with no support systems
• Don’t know where to start. Therapy? Psychiatrist? Who knows.
#Movies4MentalHealth

22. Purpose
By Victor Okoye
AWI Winner, December 2016
#Movies4MentalHealth

23. Responses and Reactions?
#Movies4MentalHealth
● “Sees souls without souls” resonated
● Long hug felt genuine. Warm feelings.
● Liked how the film transitioned to a positive tone.
● Enjoyed seeing narrators passion through the lens
● Liked the emphasis of finding personal passions
● Thought about how we go through the motions of life which leads us to missing being in the
moment and finding happiness in day-to-day.

24. What can we do as a community and
as individuals to promote mental
wellness?
• Stop making fun of people who are “different”. Talk to people as
individuals.
• Make therapy more accessible to EVERYONE.
• End stigma (starting with ourselves; speak up!)
• Sharing our experiences.
• Wear green ribbons to promote mental health awareness. Opens up
dialogue.
• Stop using language that trivialize mental illness (“I’m so OCD/ADHD”).
• Teaching children and youth about mental illness to normalize
• Keep the dialogue going to end stigma.
#Movies4MentalHealth

25. PANEL TIME!!!
#Movies4MentalHealth

26. Meet the Panel
Lani Elliott
Cal Poly Pomona Student
Lideth Ortega-Villabos, Ph.D.
Psychologist at CAPS
Indira Singh
Student Health & Wellness Health Educator
Rimmi Hundal
Director of MHSA and Ethnic Services at
Tri-City Mental Health Services
#Movies4MentalHealth

27. Stay in touch!
Sign our email list to stay connected
@artwithimpact
info@artwithimpact.org
#Movies4MentalHealth