Addressing R'Fuat Hanefesh
Action Theme Program
NFTY Mechina 5772/2012
Joy Nemerson, NFTY SAVP 5772-5773/2012-2013
Touchstone Text:
“Your friend’s dignity should be as precious to you as your own.” - Pirkei Avot 2:10
Goals:
- Show General Board how not to use the current action theme
- Address how mental health is perceived by different people
- Have each region begin to discuss how they can best use the action theme in their home settings
Objectives:
- Incorporate a “landmine” activity to demonstrate how not to use the action theme
- Have each regional board create a PSA about mental health that can be compiled into a NFTY PSA.
- Hold candid, honest, respectful discussions concerning mental health
Materials:
- Action Theme (One per region)
- Action initiatives hand out
- Jewish Text handouts
- Projector
- Computer
- Copies of Land Mine Activity
People Needed:
- Program Leader
- Group Leaders- Regional SAVP’s
- Two assigned people to read vignettes
Space Needed:
- Beit Am (or other large indoor space to comfortably house 200-300 participants)
Time Table:
00:00 - 00:20 Power Point
00:20 - 00:25 SAVP Net “stand up questions”
00:25 - 00:30 Short Speech
00:30 - 00:50 SAVP Mine field activity
00:50 - 00:60 Walk back to Beit Am and watch PSA
00:60 - 00:90 Region Discussion
Detailed Procedure:
00:00 - 00:20 Power Point
Start with lights off and slide show on screen, as soon as all PP’s are seated begin show. After slide 10 a previously selected PP will read Vignette 1 (Appendix A).
00:20 - 00:25 SAVP Net “stand up questions”
At the end of the PowerPoint, after lights are turned on, PL will get PP’s attention to start next activity.
PL: “Can I get everyone’s attention please? I will now ask you to please stand if the following statements apply to you.”
PL will read the following statements to PPs
•I know a lot about different mental illnesses.
•Mental illness is treatable
•I know someone who is seriously mentally ill
•I know someone who suffers from depression.
•Teen suicide is a big problem
•People with mental illness can lead normal productive lives.
•I have used terms such as “schizo” or “crazy” or “insane” in everyday language without thinking about the implications to people who may have a mental illness.
•My life is affected in some way by mental illness
•I would like to learn more about mental illness.
00:25 - 00:30 Short Speech
PL: “There are a lot of things you wouldn’t know about someone by just looking at them. There are also a lot of things I and we think we know about Mental Health that we may not. Mental health is not something we talk about everyday, it is not something we think about very often and it is not something most of us can recognize. We will now watch a short PSA addressing mental illness.”
As PL begins video lights should be turned off.
Show PSA: http://www.bringchange2mind.org/videos/entry/change-a-mind-about-mental-illness
PL: “This video makes me uncomfortable. I don’t think that the message is bad I just think that the way in which these issues are presented is inappropriate. “Change a mind about mental illness and you can change a life” here was my reaction when I first saw this, “okay….” Change a mind but how? This video opens doors but it doesn’t tell us how to do anything. What even is the stigma that they are talking about? Here is the definition of a stigma: mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance. The stigma that they are talking about is the stigma of living with metal illness and how it keeps people from seeking help. We have an amazing opportunity to educate our regions and ourselves on mental health and that begins now. As part of our response to the action theme I want the general board to create a PSA about how we are interpreting the theme. Before we break off by region to make the PSA’s we need to learn more about mental health from our SAVP’s.”
00:30 - 00:50 SAVP Lead activity
PL: “Now we will all split into alliances to become more educated about R'Fuat Hanefesh, our Action Theme. All of the SAVP’s will be leading this activity based on alliance. Will OTA please go to the Teyatron, will West Coast Alliance please go to the programming room, will Gulf Coast alliance please go to the lobby and MWM please stay here!”
The group leader will help PP’s get to correct locations as well as retrieving any materials they may need. Landmine activity is found in Appendix C.
00:50 - 00:60 Walk back to Beit Am and watch PSA
After activity has ended GLs will lead groups back to Beit Am. Once everyone is settled, lights will go off and PPs will watch “Behind the Scenes: Bring Change 2 Mind”
Show PSA (Behind the Scenes): http://www.bringchange2mind.org/videos/entry/behind-the-scenes-bringchange2mind-psa
00:60 - 00:90 Region discussion
PL: “Since we’ve spent so much time learning about mental health now its time to discuss with your regional board how you can best utilize the theme within your community. After you have completed your discussions you will be asked to make your own PSA. Instructions for these videos will be projected on the screen. Will you please find you board members and find a location around the room.”
PPs will split up by regional board and be given Action Theme Initiatives Sheet (Appendix B).
Appendix A:
Vignette 1
Jessica Lynch (Depression)
Some might say I am vivacious with luminous, large hazel eyes and a winning smile and It is easy to see how I was chosen to compete in the Miss America contest as Miss New York State 2003. But behind the self-confident, articulate I was not the same person I was three years ago. From fourth grade on is when it all seemed to go down hill. Till then I had been popular and outgoing, but after two moves in close succession I found withdrawing. I was suffering from depression. By 8th grade anorexia had been added as a diagnosis. Finally, weighing only 79 pounds I was hospitalized for a month, but was never treated for my underlying depression.
When I went back to school things were even worse than before. People pretended that nothing had happened, but I always felt they were talking about me behind my back. Eventually medication and therapy helped me recover. But treatment was easy compared to the stigma I faced.
I spent high school denying my hospitalization. I did, however, begin counseling other students through a program called Lifeline. Although I was amazed at how many others seemed to be suffering from similar problems, I was afraid of how they would react if I, the straight A ‘perfect’ student, admitted to being ‘crazy’.
One bright spot in my senior year, however, was The Miss America Organization. I began competing in pageants and started to tell. I spoke of my depression as if it were in the past but in reality it was still very present in my life. It was hard for me to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. Despite this I somehow managed to resume treatment and it worked. Today I use my platform as Miss NYS to serve as a role model for others and am dedicated to “helping them see through the darkness”. With the scholarship money I have received from competing in the Miss America contest I hope to obtain a graduate degree in journalism or go on to law school.
Appendix C:
Landmines vs. Safe Places to Step – Talking Points
Goals
1. To raise awareness about the decision making process for mental health patients
2. To understand the added stress of Mental Illness in everyday life.
Landmine - The goals for this program already start us off on the wrong foot. We can’t make judgments on people’s decision-making process when we aren’t in their shoes.
It also sets the tone for negativity. Using words like “patients” and “added stress” which is true, but perpetuates the misunderstandings about people who live with mental illness.
Today we are doing a serious program on Mental Illness. Raise your hand if you, or someone in your family has been affected by mental illness. If at any time during program you feel uncomfortable, please go to the safe room and there will be an advisor there for you to talk to.
Landmine - We can’t ask people to “out themselves” or share personal information.
Although we like to think of NFTY as a “safe place”, no public place is truly safe to share something so personal…because then it is no longer personal. Because there is so much stigma and misunderstanding about mental illness we have to treat this as a sensitive subject.
How could you rephrase it to make it better? Like we did at the beginning of the program. “Raise your hand if your life has been touched in some way by mental illness.” This creates some emotional connection, without naming yourself or your family.
Any program that requires a “safe room” is not a safe program. Our advisors are not therapists and are not trained to handle all the emotions that can come up with a program where people share to much. A way to prevent this is to have adults in discussion groups who can be aware if someone needs a little extra attention or can help manage a difficult discussion.
The three attractive and talented young people whose stories follow have successfully met the challenge of living with mental illness. As young adults they have accepted their illness and are committed to doing what they need to do to stay healthy. They have all dedicated a portion of their lives to increasing understanding of mental illness and fighting stigma through telling their stories.
Safe – This tells stories about young people who have successfully managed their illness.
It educates that mental illness can affect anyone, including people who are “attractive” and
“talented.” It fights the stereotype that mental illness affects the poor, the homeless, etc.
It tells true stories, without “outing” anyone. These are real people who have chosen to share their stories.
While not obvious here, the stories educate that these people have been successful in treating their illness and are living with their symptoms and managing their lives successfully.
It helps fight the stigma of mental illness by being honest and up front about symptoms and the ability to live with mental illness.
Scenario 1-
You are legally able to drink and are a responsible adult. Your friends invite you to a party where you know everyone will be drinking. You want to have fun with your friends, but drinking means you will have to skip a day of your depression medication. What do you do?
Scenario 5-
You are living below the poverty line. Around the time of your son’s 10th Birthday you receive some extra money from a seasonal job. The money is just enough to pay for either the depression medication you desperately need OR the new shoes your son wants. What do you spend the money on?
Landmine – We talked about this a little earlier. We are not in a position to make decisions for people with mental illness, or judge their decisions. To open up their choices for discussion isn’t fair. We aren’t walking in their shoes.
The second scenario perpetuates the myth that people with mental illness live below the poverty line.
PL will read these important facts about mental illness and recovery:
· Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders. They cannot be overcome through "will power" and are not related to a person's "character" or intelligence.
· Mental disorders fall along a continuum of severity. Symptoms can be relatively mild or totally debilitating.
· Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability (lost years of productive life) in North America, Europe and, increasingly, in the world. By 2020, Major Depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children.
· Mental illnesses strike individuals in the prime of their lives, often during adolescence and young adulthood. All ages are susceptible, but the young and the old are especially vulnerable.
· Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives; The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States.
· The best treatments for serious mental illnesses today are highly effective; between 70 and 90 percent of individuals have significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life with a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports;
· Early identification and treatment is of vital importance; By getting people the treatment they need early, recovery is accelerated and the brain is protected from further harm related to the course of illness. Depression often accompanies anxiety disorders and, when it does, it needs to be treated as well. Symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, changes in appetite or sleep, low energy, and difficulty concentrating.
Safe – This is all education. Education is the number one way we can start to dispel stigma and misunderstandings about mental illness.