Movies for Mental Health at the University of Toronto

1. Movies for Mental Health
University of Toronto
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

2. Here’s the Plan
I. Quick introduction
II. Set the stage together
III. Watch short films & discuss them
IV. Make it personal with our panel

3. Brought to you by
• Monthly short film
competition
• Campus workshops
• Global community
(blog, IG, Twitter, FB)

4. Tag us on Twitter, win a prize
• Follow @artwithimpact
• #MoviesForMentalHealth
• #Strategies4Strength
Our favorite pic posted + tagged by the end
of this workshop wins an AWI tote bag!

5. Warning:
Mental health is personal

6. Some movies that show mental illness:
• Twelve Monkeys
• Rain Man
• Goodwill Hunting
• Psycho
• One Flew Over the
Cuckoos Nest
• Girl Interrupted
• Silver Linings
Playbook
• Homeland
• I, Robot

7. Characters with mental illness are portrayed as:
• Unstable
• Manic
• Crazy
• Vulnerable
• Unpredictable
• Disconnected from
a social world
• To be feared
• Highly intelligent

8. What is mental illness?
• Anything that disrupts mental wellness
• Any deviation from proper mental health
function
• Anything that hinders your ability to
perform day to day
• Anything that affects your enjoyment of life

9. Mental health vs. mental illness?
• Having coping skills
• How we relate to the world around you –
people, things
• Social/cultural expectation to how we
define wellness
• ‘Normal’ – will change other’s perceptions
of you

10. More Than a Mental Illness
By Emma Spiekerman
AWI Winner, May 2013

11. What is stigma?
• Shame
• Stereotypes and prejudice
• Seeing things from one perspective
• Lack of understanding, or
misunderstanding
• Thinking of differences instead of
commonalities
• Isolating, causes a disconnect

12. How does stigma feel?
• Isolating
• Lonely
• Hurtful
• Not accepted
• Suffocated
• Disempowered, voiceless
• Exhausting – explaining
• Limiting
• Scary
• Feel defined by that one thing, misunderstood

13. Gladys
By Jessica Jones & Diana Di
Battista
AWI Winner, 2013

14. In groups of three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?

15. What did you think? What did you feel?
• Illustrated challenges involved
with seeking help, you feel the
sense of responsibility to her
children
• Showed that you are your own
worst enemy - the dialogue in
your head, like quicksand
• Sense of conflict – she wanted
help, but lots of barriers, taking
away her voice
• See moments of elation,
breaks in the film where she
has help and seems optimistic
to get help
• Film elements made you feel
what she was feeling – blurry,
sad confused, asking lots of
questions
• Lonely
• Feeling Tired, correlation
between physical and mental
health
• Guilty and scared as a single
mother

16. Rinse and Repeat
By Daniel Richardson
AWI Winner, 2013

17. In groups of three
• What did you think?
• What did you feel?

18. What did you think? What did you feel?
• Incredibly powerful, honest
and moving
• Depressing to see someone
in that position, you want to
do something and help
• Often times we cannot help
what is going on around us
• Stigma – internal struggle,
it’s not easy to stop
• How long a day is in the life
of the protagonist
• Accurate portrayal of
someone who is painfully
aware of what’s going on
• Felt exhausted for him
• A sense of restlessness,
never felt a sense of ease
• Empathy for the character,
internal monologue, wanted
to engage with him and
almost wanted to
experience his anxiety
along with him
• Felt a kinship with him

19. The Blind Stigma
By Stacy-Ann Buchanan
AWI Winner, May 2015

20. What did you think? What did you feel?
• Definition of mental health can
be so different and vary in
different communities
• Similarities to Latin American
communities, views of
depression as taboo and not
something you speak up about
• Powerful, shows a struggle a
lot of people don’t see
• As someone working in social
work, was conscious of the
people being trained to treat
marginalized communities: is
there enough help for them in
these students being trained?
• Felt angry that there is a
lack of representation for
some communities

21. What can I do?

22. Tag us on Twitter, win a prize
• @artwithimpact
• #MoviesForMentalHealth
• #Strategies4Strength
Our favorite pic posted + tagged by the end
of this workshop wins an AWI tote bag!

23. Meet the Panel
• Emmanuela, student
• Allison Leblovic, M.Ed, Disability Counsellor,
Accessibility Services
• Dr. Silvia Tenenbaum BEd., MEd, EdD,
Registered Psychologist, Health and Wellness Centre
• Darlene Coppins, Project Lead, Campus Addiction
Groups, LOFT Community Services
• Dejan Bozin, Partners for Mental Health
Community Booths:
• Katie & Chelsea, Healthy Minds Canada
• Kate, Good2Talk

24. Thank you for coming!
• Contact us:
– Natalie Daley: natalie@artwithimpact.org
• Follow us!
• Submit a film!
http://www.artwithimpact.org/contest