In one of my volunteer roles, I work with a group that is addressing how the stigma of mental illness affects young people in our community. Last week, the T.A.M.I. Coalition of York Region (Talking About Mental Illness and Addictions) hosted it’s 4th annual Stomp Out Stigma Conference.

The Stomp Out Stigma conference brings students and teachers from across our 2 Regional school boards. Our conference approach is to bring young people in as key note speakers, all of whom have lived experience of mental illness and addictions.

The speakers share their stories and break down the stereotypes and myths of mental illness. We also facilitate small group workshops and provide tool kits in which the students (and their accompanying teachers) can take back to their schools to create anti stigma events or publications.

Back to my point about amplifying your message with video.  There are many opportunities for groups to capture important events or activities that show what a valuable service your non profit is providing to the community.

Having a high definition camera is great, but a standard definition video recorder will work just fine for web viewing. When your having a function, just bring your camera along, interview some people, record the event, do some minor edits and then share it on YouTube or your own non profit web site.

Below is a video I took at our T.A.M.I. Conference and a list of links that will take you to my YouTube Channel. I wanted to make these video resources available to the youth who are planning anti stigma events or activities in their schools. I also felt that having a video record of one of our key note speakers could be very helpful for youth, care givers and counselors.

Please let me know if you would like to know more about our event or how you can use video to amplify your non profit story.

Jesse Bigelow shares his experience of living with mental illness to an attentive roomful of students. The second part of his presentation can be viewed on my Social Media Tools Channel.

You can view Patricia Preston’s opening welcome on behalf of the York Catholic District School Board here.

We were also treated to an outstanding young dance artist. Cassey Andrew’s dance expresses the anguish many youth and adults face when they struggle to share words and feelings that are painful. Cassey’s dance is called Prisoner of Words Unsaid.

Related Posts:

Stomping Out Stigma Summit 2009

Alex Giancola is a cast member in a play called The Recovering. This interview is an excerpt from the film that Social Media Tools for Work & Learning did of the play.

This play was entirely created and directed by consumer/survivors of the mental health system. I was very pleased when Tanya Shute Exective Director of the Krasman Centre, a mental health drop in centre located in Richmond Hill Ontario agreed to my offer of filming the play at their 2009 AGM celebrations. The Krasman Centre and the Richmond Hill United Church where key supporters of the play from the beginning.

My filming partner Bill and I met the Director and cast at their pre show rehearsal to get their permission to film the play. They were very agreeable to my offer as they saw that having a good DVD quality video could help the play reach a wider audience. They also felt that a digital copy posted on the Internet would be an effective way to raise public awareness.

The acting troupe is seeking financial support from any level of government, Foundation or groups that has an interest in supporting  their volunteer driven production. Supporting The Recovering play would be appealing to groups interested in building inclusive communities, using drama as a therapeutic tool, raising public awareness of and support for individuals experiencing mental illness.

To make the film production more appealing they also agreed to my request that we include brief interviews of each of the cast members. The interviews would focus on their personal journey in dealing with mental illness and how participating in the play contributes to their well being and personal development.

I’ll be posting a link to the full film of the play and interviews of the cast once we finalize the production. Over the coming weeks, I will be writing more about using video and other social media tools to support advocacy and awareness projects in the community.

Please leave your comments about this wonderful dedicated acting troupe who are sharing so much of their story and contributing to a healthy inclusive community.