Extend Your Message & Include the Messengers: National Mental Health Week at the Newmarket Theatre
An interview with Dave Goff, performer in the Stand Up For Mental Health Comedy Troupe.
Over 350 people attended the National Mental Health Week – On the Road of Recovery event at the Newmarket Theatre on April 8th, 2009. From my perspective, the event was a resounding success . I think what made the event so successful was the careful planning and collaboration of the sponsoring organizations and the representation throughout the day of the rich and genuine voices of consumer survivors.
I was very pleased that Social Media Tools for Work & Learning was given permission to film the event. We offered not only to film the main presenters but also staff and consumers about what the day meant for them. In addition to the dynamic presentations given by Bill MacPhee, CEO/Founder of the Schizophrenia Digest and the Stand Up for Mental Health comedy troupe, we have over twenty interviews that will be added to the final DVD.
All of the sponsoring organizations will be given a master DVD copy that they can use to share with staff and consumers who were not able to attend the event. They can also re-purpose the DVD for staff/volunteer training purposes or reaching their stakeholders by posting the DVD on their web site. Once we complete the post production editing process, I will post the full DVD on my site.
The sponsoring organizations included: Canadian Mental Health Association-York Region; York Support Services Network; Krasman Centre; Loft – Crosslinks; Addiction Services for York Region.
This photo slide show and the interview above will give you a flavour of the day. You can see how using inexpensive equipment can still give good quality results. Please leave a comment if you would like to continue extending the conversation.
A slide show that illustrates how interviews are added into our film.
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Good and just getting better!!!
Excellent! That little camera of yours does a great job. I look forward to seeing more of the event and interviews. It is too easy to capture these events and allow everyone to experience the event without having being present.
“The Recovering” seems to touches us all these days. We all know of people experiencing these difficulties and this media is the perfect way to educate and share these experiences with those afflicted and supporters. I commend these people for sharing a difficult topic with everyone.
The slideshow is also great. It is always fun to see the experience in the making.
@Alain
Thanks Alain,
I totally agree about the importance of sharing these experiences and the usefulness of videos or pictures to do this. I learned so much from listening to consumers and staff as they shared small pieces of their journeys.
Dave! I ‘ve known him for two and a half years and have the pleasure of working with him in the play we did together called “The Recovering”. Dave is a symbol of all that is good in the investment of energies into healing and the expression of one’s creativity. He emits good energy and reminds me that of the fact that “therapy” is Greek for healing and the arts.