Documentary - Shadow Voices - Finding Hope in Mental Illness
This documentary aired on ABC-TV stations around the nation between December, 2005 and Februay, 2006 (at the station's discretion), and on the Hallmark Channel on February 18, 2007 . Check your local TV listing or www.shadowvoices.com for other local times.
Below is a description of the documentary, taken from the website www.shadowvoices.com.
SHADOW VOICES - FINDING HOPE IN MENTAL ILLNESS - Rosalynn Carter, Dr. David Satcher and representatives of NAMI talk about its stigma, the recovery and their faith.
Stigma, recovery and hope: mental illness documentary to air on ABCHARRISONBURG, VA. (Mennonite Media) Jerome Lawrence, Atlanta, Ga. , struggles every day with schizophrenia, but through medication and hard work functions independently. He creates watercolor paintings praised by Rosalynn Carter among many others, and works for a mental health advocacy organization.
Kari Broadway, Rock Valley, Iowa , is studying in a pre-med program and receives regular treatment for depression, hoping that this time she won’t have to drop out of school because of illness. Though first embarrassed to even receive treatment as a college student, her past history indicates that if she does experience more acute episodes, she’ll recuperate, regroup and go on.
Lyn Legere, Boston, Mass., at one time self-medicated on heroin and alcohol and has lived for almost 50 years with mental illness. She recently earned her master’s degree at Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences of Boston University; she works in the office of disability services in supportive education there, and as a consultant on the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
These are people who fought not only thoughts of suicide but the very real stigma that still surrounds mental illness in the media, insurance policies, and public opinion. They work at recovery and rehabilitation, and openly tell their stories in a new documentary Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness premiering Dec. 4 on ABC stations across the (at discretion of local ABC stations from Dec. 4 to Feb. 4; check schedules at www.shadowvoices.com).
Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the and longtime advocate on mental illness issues and Dr. David Satcher, surgeon general of the U.S. from 1998 to 2002, highlight the hour-long documentary.
But the real heroes, according to Dr. William Anthony, director of the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University , are the persons who not only tackle their illness but passionately share their stories with the public to help others and themselves. “That’s who’s doing the heavy lifting,” says Anthony.
Ramiro (Ray) Guevara, director of the STAR center (technical assistance to mental health consumers) for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and formerly head of the “In Our Own Voice” program for NAMI noted, “Sharing my story almost normalized it. After awhile I said, ‘I don’t have a problem with having a mental illness. If you a problem with that, I’m sorry, but I’m okay.’”
Susan Gregg-Schroeder, an ordained United Methodist minister, reassessed her life’s direction after experiencing severe depression and keeping it secret for two years. She founded a program called Mental Health Ministries which educates faith communities on mental health issues.
The program also includes personal stories from:
Risdon Slate, professor of criminology at Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Fla., and police trainer on responding to persons with mental illness.
Wanda Lindsay, in Penn Foundation’s Community Residential Rehabilitation program, Souderton, Pa. , board member, and speaker on mental illness in community groups.
Vonnie Williamson, enrolled in the Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation program at Hope Haven, Iowa , and “clown”
Debbie Miller, a musician who assists in the music ministry of her church, Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship, Ohio, and works for a market research firm.
Pat Bradley of Harrisonburg, Va. , talking about difficulties with insurance and employment.
Additional experts in the documentary working in the field of mental health or advocacy include:
Dr. Joyce Burland, Arlington, Va. , director of educational programs for NAMI.
Dr. Erik Roskes, Baltimore, Md.,a psychiatrist specializing in working with prison systems and police officers on mental illness.
Dr. Thomas Bornemann, director of the mental health program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga.
Evelyn Bussema, manager of the Inte sive Psychiatric Rehabilitation program for Hope Haven, Rock Valley, Iowa.
Steve Garboden, acting director and senior vice president of administrative services and health services for Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA) in Goshen, Ind.
Beverly and Rhoda Steiner, Crown Centre Counseling in Dalton, Ohio , a Christian-based counseling center that has a church partnership program.
In any given year, about five to seven percent of adults have a serious mental illness. Approximately 35 percent of all persons will experience a diagnosed brain disorder sometime during their life, with mental illnesses causing the most disability among all illnesses in the , and Western Europe according to the 2003 U.S. President’s Commission on Mental Health Report.
When persons with mental illness in institutions were released to community programs through the deinstitutionalization process of the 1960s, a hodgepodge of community systems attempted to meet needs with results varying greatly according to the locale. Spokesmen in the documentary say that today more people with mental illness are in the Los Angeles County and Riker’s Island ( New York City) jails than any state hospital in the . Approximately 300,000-400,000 people in prisons have mental illness, with double that number on parole or probation. Most are not considered dangerous to others and some are first picked up for typical homeless charges of vagrancy or loitering.
Dr. Joyce Burland, creator of the Family to Family program for NAMI says that families and individuals are the ones who struggle with the jumbled and confusing system. “As I deal and live with and love the families that we work with, what I see is valor. There is this huge effort of families picking up this broken system and trying to plug in where they can,” she describes. “We are the shadow mental health system in : unheralded and unsung.”
Burton Buller , producer for the program and director of Mennonite Media says, “We want to challenge society to rethink the stigma that continues to follow diseases of the brain. We want the viewer to come away from the documentary saying, ‘I will never be able to look at or think about mental illness in the same way again.’”
The program was produced for the “Vision and Values” series for ABC-TV by Mennonite Media in partnership with the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission and the Communications Commission of National Council of Churches.
The documentary Mennonite Media produced last year, Fierce Goodbye: Living in the Shadow of Suicide, won a “Gold Special Jury Award,” the second to the top level of prizes, from the WorldFest-Houston Film Festival, among other awards.
The program will be available on VHS and DVD for purchase after Dec. 15. The DVD includes bonus content.
Mennonite Media, based in Harrisonburg, Va., is the outreach media department of Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church.
Melodie Davis
For more information please visit www.shadowvoices.com.
