Week 4 - Community Service Project Update

On Tuesday, we had a guest speaker share his own personal experience having a son with mental illness and provided us ideas for our presentation on February 13. It was an extremely helpful discussion as it set the tone for our presentation. These are real issues that our audience will most probably have had experience with. It is a delicate, solemn, topic--one to be approached carefully, sincerely, and with love.

He began by offering a staggering statistic--about 1 in every 5 Americans suffer a mental illness. He put this into perspective by urging us to consider 1 in every 5th individual in our classroom, in our audience, or someone driving along the highway as suffering a mental illness. This is a common disability--an invisible disability.

The Outline For Our Presentation:

1) statistics 

2) stigma

3) definition 

4) treatment 

5) advocacy 

6) resources

Concerning statistics, we may provide statistics on various forms of mental illness such as PTSD from abuse. We may also include statistics of the presence of mental illness within specific communities such as those in prison or are homeless. Furthermore, we may describe the levels of functionality of individuals suffering certain forms of mental illness. As our guest speaker did in the beginning class, we may present statistics in a personal manner by stating 1 in every 5th American suffers a mental illness rather than casually stating 20% of Americans suffer mental illness. Our guest speaker mentioned the cases of mental illness is rising. It is unknown whether this uprise is due to better diagnostic tools or there are risk factors in the modern day that are causing the uprise. The purpose for such statistics is to reveal that people with mental illness are not alone, caregivers of the mentally ill are not alone, and there will be no judgement of the topic of mental illness during our presentation.
When discussing the stigma present in mental illness, we may discuss the varying cultural taboos surrounding mental illness (having a culturally diverse class will benefit this presentation greatly). We may also discuss the stigma concerning mental illness in America and provide examples of (personal) cases of stigma occurring. In summary, as we discuss the stigma surrounding mental illness, we will describe what people think mental illness is. As we define what overall mental health actually is--including the definition and examples of "triggers"--we may mention that mental illness is often accompanied by self-medication. Concerning treatment, churches, hospitals and walk-in clinics, support groups, a proper diet, and exercise should very well be emphasized during our presentation. Timi and I will discuss the importance of advocacy and resources such as NAMI, health insurance, and when it is appropriate to notify the police.We will begin and end our presentation with personal stories of mental illness from our class and will make our presentation end with the message of hope.