Videos Available at the Santa Cruz Main Library
“Catching Up with the World – Participation and Autonomy in Recovery from
Mental Illness” Produced by The Mental Illness Education Project, Inc.
P.O. Box 470813, Brookline Village, MA 02447 –
www.miepvideos.org
Many psychiatric patients continue to be hospitalized for
long periods of time, yet real possibilities for dramatic improvement exist.
Every long-term psychiatric institution can integrate recovery concepts and
patient involvement to enhance quality of life, regardless of the degree of
current disability.
This videotape shows an ongoing program at a state
psychiatric facility, the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Integrated Service Model
(“P.R.I.S.M.”) at Medfield, Mass. State Hospital.
The tape offers an intimate view of the compassion and commitment of hospital
staff at every level. It addresses issues such as involving patients in
treatment team meetings, medication education, and skill building and changing
from caretaking to a recovery approach.
This videotape will be of value across the spectrum of care,
from psychiatric hospitals to mental health centers to community and
residential settings – wherever rehabilitation programs are in place or are
being considered.
“Uncertain Journey – Families Coping with Serious Mental Illness”
Produced by Duke University Medical Center, Box 3173, Durham, North Carolina
27710
This video comes with a brochure about the film and
describes the effects of serious mental illness from the perspective of the
family. It is targeted to clinicians, policymakers, consumers, students, and
others who work with individuals with serious mental illness.
Viewers are sensitized to the family experience of serious
mental illness through the stories of three families, each with a family
member who is seriously mentally ill. Woven through these personal stories are
the comments of King E. Davis, PhD, Professor, School of Social Work, Virginia
Commonwealth University, and former Commissioner of Mental Health for the
State of Virginia, Dr. Davis’ commentary addresses the strains on families and
opportunities for improvement in the mental health care delivery system.
Suggestions are made for areas of further research investigation.
“Hospital Without Walls” Produced by Duke University Medical Center, Box
3173, Durham, North Carolina 27710
The Division of Social and Community Psychiatry, Dept. of
Psychiatry developed this video, at Duke University Medical Center with
support from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Center for Mental
Health Services. Its goal is to introduce Programs for Assertive Community
Treatment (PACT) for people with serious mental illness to clinicians, policy
makers, consumers and their families.
Viewers learn how the PACT approach works through an in-depth look at a PACT
model in Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to the personal stories of
two clients, this video highlights the scope and function of the day-to-day
PACT team activities from a client visit to the health department to daily
medication deliveries. Research findings and benefits to clients and families
are presented with the help of expert commentary from the South Carolina
Commissioner of Mental Health, Dr. Joseph Bevilacqua, US Senator Pete
Domenici, NAMI President, Laurie M. Flynn and researcher Dr. Barbara J. Burns.
“Reach One, Teach One – The Peer Educators Project in Action” Produced by
The Massachusetts Division of Partnership, the Massachusetts Division of Medical
Assistance, The Mental Illness Education Project, Inc., and Vinfen Corp.
An excellent Peer Educators Project in Action, this
25-minute video comes with a booklet for leaders. People with a psychiatric
condition gather to share their practical knowledge and experience, and help
each other take steps towards recovery. They candidly discuss real-life
stresses – finding housing, navigating the mental health system, and returning
to work.
Two peer educators groups are shown:
- Recovery Workbook Group is a model which helps people
with a psychiatric condition develop practical skills needed to rebuild
their lives. It is based on The Recovery Workbook published by Boston
University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation.
- Double Trouble in Recovery Group is a 12-step group
developed by Howard Vogel of Double Trouble in Recovery, Inc., for people
dealing with alcohol or drug addiction as well as a mental illness.
At the end of the tape, clinicians and administrators
discuss how peer education benefits the mental health system as a whole.
“Never Too Far – Rural Outreach for Serious Mental Illness” produced
by Marvin Swartz, MD, Dept. of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center
This video demonstrates how Duke University with the South
Carolina Department of Mental Health created ROADS, Rural Outreach, and
Advocacy & directs Services, which serves over 100 seriously mentally ill.
These mobile units have all the necessary paperwork and access by cell phone
to the whole team, which consists of a doctor, nurse and aides. The mobile
units do the follow-up on hospital patients who cannot meet their appointments
because there is no transportation. It becomes very beneficial going to where
the patients live and work, seeing people in their home with their families,
and meeting the whole community where everyone knows each other.
This program started with two nurses and now has several
psychiatrists, nurses and aids with a result of a 52% decrease in costs. ROADS
have become a resource to the patient, the family and the community, for in
the rural areas everyone knows everyone. It has helped improve the quality of
life for the severely mentally ill.
“Coming of Age – at high risk” with Lynn Ponton, M.D. & Richard
MacKenzie, M.D., produced by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
California, financed by the California Dept. of Public Health
This is a documentary about a hidden epidemic. From all indications more and
more young girls are experiencing their first hormonal surges and even
full-fledged puberty between the ages of eight and ten. For most of them it is a
confusing time as fat deposits begin to reshape their bodies and menstruation
makes its demands. Media, ever present and a dominant force in their lives,
besieges these developing girls with ideas of what “really beautiful women”
(models, actresses, and rock stars) look like – skinny bodies with long legs and
generous breasts. An unattainable ideal for a majority of the girls, these
celebrity-like figures become a tenaciously held goal and diet restriction and
laxatives become habit – a shared secret among peers, but hidden from parents
and family.
This film was financed to encourage more knowledgeable professionals to get
involved with this serious health crisis that has taken on epidemic proportions.
We’re urging parents to become more attentive and to seek help earlier and we
hope that schools and the girls themselves will take proactive and even
life-saving action. This subject, of young girls obsessed with diet restriction,
is the wake up call of this NAMI California one-hour presentation.
“Learning to Live with Bipolar Disorder” produced by NAMI, National Alliance for
the Mentally Ill, with an educational grant from Abbott Laboratories.
More than two million Americans have bipolar disorder (also known as manic
depressive illness). Like you, they are learning to live with the challenges of
this illness. Like you, they are working to understand the disorder and its
treatment. Like you, they strive for recovery.
This video looks into the lives of five people who happen to have bipolar
disorder and are willing to share their stories. Through their frank and open
discussion of their illnesses, we hope you will gain understanding and
encouragement as you venture forth on your own course to recovery.
“Read everything you can on the subject. Be as smart as your doctor is. Ask your
doctor all kinds of questions and take your medication.” Karen
“I Love you like crazy” – Being a Parent with Mental Illness, produced by the
Mental Illness Education Project Videos, 22-D Hollywood Ave., Hohokus, NJ 07423
This video is an excellent tool for a group discussion and comes along with a
booklet, which gives instructions on how to conduct the group.
Eight mothers and fathers who have mental illness discuss the challenges they
face as parents. These parents share their feelings of failure due to the loss
of a job, and the lack of energy needed to raise a child who is required right
after leaving the hospital, not to mention the effects of the meds. They talk of
family members (husbands, parents) rejecting them because of their illness and
taking the children away because it is thought that they cannot take care of the
children.
They avoid getting help and don’t admit they are ill because of the fear of
having their children taken away. The social security system is not concerned
about the parent, it’s concern is the children and the result of this is the
children are taken away. There is great self-doubt about being a good parent,
yet there are successes and happy endings, given the support needed.
