Movies for Mental Health @ Princeton University - 11.19.19

1. Movies for
Mental Health
Princeton University
November 19, 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

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…
Taxi Driver
A Beautiful Mind
Joker
Melancholia
Mr. Robot
Silver Linings Playbook
Law and Order
Legion
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Rain Man
House M.D.
#Movies4MentalHealth

11. Characters with mental illness
are portrayed as…
Troubled
Overactive
Brilliant/Creative
Savant
Helpless
Rejected
Isolated
“Crazy”
Angry
Obsessive
Irrational
Confused
Dangerous
#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?
Like a spectre
Limiting
Heavy
Demeaning/demoralizing/disempowering
Secretive, limits communication
Unfair
Alienating
Depressed/depressing
Causes anger
#Movies4MentalHealth

15. Visualizing Lies
By Justin Jeffers and Devonnie Black
AWI Winner, April 2019
Content heads up: anxiety, depression
#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
- Connecting to someone’s
else’s mental illness can be
problematic (it’s so
personal)
- Appreciated that film wasn’t
so much about specifics and
more about the general
situations experienced
Feelings
- Really liked the title, film was
great
- Liked how the symbolism of
the differents modes of
transportations seemed to
represent “going through the
motions”

18. How did the filmmaking
techniques help tell the story?
- Different modes of transportation
representing “going through the motions”
- Characters’ motivation (She visibly had a sad
face and they didn’t notice)
- The camera angles/jump cuts (showed her
hands, fingernail polish, her behavior)
- Script
- Film tempo/movement
#Movies4MentalHealth

19. Core.
By Ashlen Harkness
AWI Winner, November 2016
Content heads up: anxiety, intensity of
sound and visuals
#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
- Mental illness can be related
to physical illness (Cortisol
is metabolic)
- The sound was powerful
(sounded like a flatline)
- Tone of voice didn’t change
very much and contrasted
with the intensity of the
images and movements
- The silence was very “loud”
and powerful
- Liked the location of the
body, can feel outside of
yourself
Feelings
- The effects made it
impossible not to feel the
tension and anxiety that she
was experiencing
- Could feel the tension of the
narration and the actor’s
actions

22. Why don’t people get help?
- The compartmentalization of healthcare acts
as a deterrent
- Stigma
- Don’t know how
- Financial barriers
- Fear
- Don’t realize that it’s needed, minimization of
the issue
#Movies4MentalHealth

23. The Letter
By Brian A. Ross
AWI Winner, October 2016
Content heads up: suicidal ideation, suicide letter
#Movies4MentalHealth

24. Responses and Reactions?
#Movies4MentalHealth
- Change in gender and perspective, anyone can have problems
- Couldn’t have had more of a heavy topic and the juxtaposition of the
light and sound
- Perfectionism and romanticism of suicide was interesting
- Human contact is the antidote, it’s so critical

25. What can we do?
- Person-centered care and not illness-centered care
- Empathy and compassion, but sometimes that is not enough, care is
important
- Empathic listening, never treat people’s experiences and feelings as a
joke, take it all seriously
#Movies4MentalHealth

26. Panel
#Movies4MentalHealth

27. Ann Webb
Undergraduate Student ‘22, Princeton University
Austin Hounsel
Graduate Student, Computer Science, Princeton University
Nicole Barkley
Assistant Dean for Student Life, Graduate School, Princeton University
Chanika Svetvilas
Curator, Unique Minds: Voices through Art, Princeton University
Jay Yudof
Recovery Programs Coordinator, NAMI New Jersey
Meet the Panel
bit.ly/M4MH-PU

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