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My aim is broadcast the conversation via a podcast as well as recording and releasing it online after the event.
The live talk will not be filmed so as to create a safe environment for people wishing to participate anonymously with only audio being recorded.

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Main points of discussion:

What could be considered good representations of mental health in media? Discussed using examples such as Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), A Beautiful Mind  (2001) and 13 Reasons Why (2017).

What could be considered bad representations of mental health in media? Discussed using examples such as The Silence of the Lambs(1991), Fight Club(1999) and Psycho (1960).

What the guests personal experiences with mental health issues are and the ways that they have been able to handle them.

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Discipline: Literary and Cultural Studies
Contribution to the Event:
My role in the Mental Health Day will be to run a live talk session which will also run as a podcast. The purpose of this is to encourage people to step forwards and talk about their experiences with mental health issues and to encourage people to think critically about representations of mental health in media. The show will be aimed at University students as they will be the ones who I hope will step forward to talk on the show.
I believe that through this podcast we can send a message to those struggling with mental health issues that they are not alone and that many other have gone through similar situations. I also hope that by critiquing representations in media people will begin to question the way we perceive mental health and begin to find a better understanding of what it means.

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Our Mental Health Day at Curtin has proved to be a great success. As a result of our awareness day, we’ve managed to bring a wide community together, and face the truths that are associated with mental illness. Through our expressive and awareness building mediums, we’ve managed to support our community, and develop a sense of understanding to something that is frequently over-looked.

We’d like to say thank you to those that have contributed towards this event. Tameka, Indiana, Caryssa, Tyla and TJ, our founders for this event, your development and encouragement to our community has made a successful day that has brought together the wider community. A huge thank you to the teams and volunteers that were under the control of our founders. Curtin University, for allowing us to hold this event. All those that participated in the event- even if you just contributed by petting the animals. And lastly, we’d like to thank the Noongar people, our custodial land owners, for allowing us to use your land for this event.

We hope to hold this event again next year, thank you all again.

Tameka Riches and Indiana De Paolis, Chairpersons

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"John Curtin Gallery". 2017. Johncurtingallery.Curtin.Edu.Au. http://johncurtingallery.curtin.edu.au/gallery/.

"John Curtin Gallery". 2017. Johncurtingallery.Curtin.Edu.Au. http://johncurtingallery.curtin.edu.au/gallery/location.cfm.

Kate, Jasmine. 2016. "Jasminekatephoto". Jasminekatephoto. Accessed May 8. https://www.jasminekatephoto.com/disquiet.

White, Claire. 2015. "Claire White Photography - Mental Health Campaign". Claire White Photography. Accessed May 8. http://www.clairewhitephotography.com/mental-health-campaign.

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As Tyla is also a Screen Arts student we will be working very together very closely to ensure the documentary is of the highest quality and is screened in the appropriate venue.
As Tyla will be giving an introduction and conclusion to the documentary I will be providing her with all the resources she will need in order to give a successful speech; i will be providing her the documentary itself (prior to its initial screening, my script notes and the directors treatment. I will also be inviting Tyla to attend all of the production stages, including filming and editing so she may provide me with any constructed criticism she believes is appropriate.

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A brief Facebook status to both promote Mental Health Day at Curtin and encourage people to come to the screening of the documentary "Realities of Mental Illness"

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1. (Off campus help)  BeyondBlue Support Service  - 1300 22 46 36, http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/get-immediate-support

2. Lifeline - 24 hour phone concealing service 13 11 14, http://www.lifeline.org.au/

3. (On campus help) Call Curtin reception to make an appointment at 1800 651 878 or +61 8 9266 7850)

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- Constructed scenarios
- Description of what mental illness is (A condition which has damaging effects on a persons mind, their behaviour or thoughts)
- Case studies
- Interviews
- Statistics
- An introduction to the mental health day at Curtin and what it is
- Some organisations who deal with assisting people with Mental illness problems

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For interviews and other indoor scenes
(Image can be found on http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/jan/22/behind-lens-effective-lighting-kits-dont-have-be-e/) 2012.

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Used to create a high quality image
(Image can be found on https://www.canon.com.au/cameras/eos-700d) 2017.

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Sun reflector lighting
For lighting during filming of outdoor scenes
(Image can be found on https://petapixel.com/2011/06/01/use-car-sun-shades-as-cheap-reflectors/)  2011.

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Beetz, Andrea, Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg, Henri Julius, and Kurt Kotrschal. 2012. "Psychosocial And Psychophysiological Effects Of Human-Animal Interactions: The Possible Role Of Oxytocin". Frontiers In Psychology 3 (234). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00234.

Hare, Julie. 2015. “A student attends a University of Canberra stress-relief session”. The Australian. Accessed May 8, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/students-find-stress-relief-in-animal-spirits/news-story/5b0ac13d3f832f66c7fc4e966a31c982

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78% of Australian university students have reported suffering from a mental health problem some time within the past year and a whole of 33% of university students had experienced suicidal thoughts

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- Staff at Curtin
- Students at Curtin
- Individuals experiencing mental illness or people who have previously experienced some form of mental health issue (within the community

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While researching for the event during the organising stage, I was observing journal articles that mentioned mental health, and came across many articles on how animals can help humans with their mental health.

In a journal article by Beetz, Uvnäs-Moberg, Julius and Kotrschal (2012), they compared 69 studies on animal-human interaction and whether these interactions have an effect on us. These studies supported and provided evidence that they do in fact benefit us. They actually have a positive effect on us in numerous ways, including reducing stress, anxiety and aggression, and improve overall mental and physical health.

After discovering this research, I thought that a fun way to get people involved in our event, and to promote interesting ways to cope with mental illnesses, would be to set up a petting zoo! I ran this activity, as most of my contribution to the event happened before and after the event. I decided to set this petting zoo up in the lower Henderson Court area as it is a popular spot for people to sit in and walk by. I thought by setting the petting zoo up in a popular area would encourage more people to join in.

Curtin is also known for their own animal therapy program, Curtin PUPS (People Under Pressure at School). This program usually involves taking puppies to adjacent high schools around exam periods, and letting them pat and play with the pups. The aim of this is to reduce the students’ stress levels and improve their mental wellbeing. I asked the coordinators of the Curtin PUPS program if they would get involved on our Mental Health Day by bringing the pups around the Curtin campus, and they agreed and even thought that it was a great idea!

Julie Hare, A student attends a University of Canberra stress-relief session. 2015, Digital Image. Available from: The Australian (Hare 2015)

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What is it? - A brief description of each of the locations used to film for the documentary, the positives and negatives of each location and how the setting effects the overall production.

"Majority of the documentary will be filmed in indoor spaces. I have chosen to set the majority of the film indoors so that I have more control over the weather and lighting. Furthermore, I will be able to construct a deeper sense of realism as the documentary is set in everyday relatable settings. Other settings will be located at Kings Park and classrooms and cafes at Curtin campus. Each one of my settings create a sense of realism for the audience, thus helping me depict the idea that mental health is a common and real issue that is effecting society today, and it is something that needs to be addressed. Whilst working indoors is more practical, i can use an indoor studio lighting setup, this will be helpful particularly when staging my anonymous interviews. I will be using a sun reflector panel for staging all of the outdoor lighting. This will give me better control of the colours and light when filming outside. I have decided to include footage set on campus as I think it will really help the audience to identify and connect back to the idea that mental health is an issue with their own community, something many university students are struggling with.

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Production Schedule
What is it? - It is the organising of the shots that are filmed within a day, the equipment needed, the actors needed for each scene, the time frame for each shot, the location of filming and the props that are used.

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Due to its heavy content I will be targeting an age demographic of around (12-100)

Aim:
My aim with the documentary is to portray the idea that mental illness is a serious issue that many people are suffering from within our own community.

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Discipline: Screen Arts

Contribution to the Event:
Currently studying Screen Arts, my contribution to the Mental Health day at Curtin will include a documentary which I will both film and edit myself. My reasoning for producing a documentary is that wanted to help educate people about mental health and provide them with a deeper insight as to why this is such an important issue today.
Documentaries can be powerful in the way that they visually communicate to an audience through the incorporation of footage and sound, which helps to generate an emotional response from the audience. If viewers are able to emotionally connect with  my film, I believe that they will care deeper about the issue more and feel inspired to educate themselves further on mental health.

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Print media, such as newspapers and magazines, have always been an integral way to share information with others. The Grok is a student run magazine at Curtin that also delivers copies to other universities – I thought it would be important to create two articles to be published into this magazine, as it would reach a wide audience and would inform them. I decided to write an article before the event and one after the event.

In the article published before the event, I thought it was important to outline the effects of mental illness, common types of mental illness and how to cope with them; this would give background knowledge to those who do not know anything extensively to this issue. I also advertised our Mental Health Day event to encourage people to get involved, and intrigue them to attend and to support and raise awareness for this worthy issue.

The second article, published after the event, reflected on the event and how it was a success. I used photos that I took on the day to add to the article, as well as interviews that I conducted on the day with the people who got involved.

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Mental Health Day was on a Tuesday this year, So I thought it would be a good idea to use radio journalism, and do a segment on the Curtin radio station on the Monday (the day before the event). In this segment, I started by informing listeners that it was the start of Mental Health Week and gave them a bit of background knowledge on what the week was about and what everyone could do to raise awareness and to reduce the effects of mental illness. I also invited a friend of mine, who had suffered from mental illness and has recovered, to be a guest speaker for my segment. They were willing to, and so they shared their story and their battle with mental health, and they encouraged anyone who was suffering to do something about it, and even shared some tips on how to cope with common issues such as stress and anxiety.

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I organised a Geofilter that promotes the Mental Health Day event at Curtin. Like I did with the creation of the poster, I worked with Indiana to design and create this filter.

When someone was on campus and takes a snapchat, they had the option to place our Mental Health Day filter over their photo, as the filter had a geotag that linked it to Curtin’s location. By doing this, it allowed people to send their snapchats to their friends with the filter, and this helped to spread awareness that it was Mental Health Day to an even wider audience. In particular, this was aimed to reach students from other universities, as they were part of our target audience.
The designs for these filters can be seen under Indiana's section, where she talks about them in detail as she created them.

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As an illustration student, I’m also working with Tameka to create the visual advertisements attached to her articles, and to be placed around campus. These are pre-event advertisements and visually showcase the day in a way to appeal to a wide audience. While working with Tameka, I’m also working on the designs for the Snapchat Geo-filters. These filters will be small icons/type that advertise the event on the day, documenting on a social media platform, to again appeal and reach a wide audience.

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Before the exhibition, Caryssa will be creating her documentary, and during this time she will be interviewing many individuals on their experiences with mental illness/health throughout their lives.  I’ll be working with her to help further document these people in the form of photography. These photos will be used in both the exhibition and the documentary. This is to:

·         identify those that can offer help

·        Show what real people with real mental illness look like

·        The show their reaction while talking about their past, present and future with mental health

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The photographs exhibited will be taken by myself, and a team of photography students at Curtin. All equipment will be supplied by the Curtin Photography Department (unless individuals wish to use their own equipment). Each photo will have its own title and artist plaque next to the photo, in order to commemorate and identify the work.

Submissions will also be open for students and stuff to show off their visual representations of mental health online, via the oasis “Latest News” section.

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Print media, such as posters, are an old yet effective way of spreading the word about events. I collaborated and worked with Indiana, who used her expertise in illustration and graphic design, to create a poster to advertise our event. I posted this poster digitally on the Facebook event’s page, as well as printed copies of it to hang around the university.

Strategically, I hung these posters in the most frequently visited places on campus, including in the library, at cafes (such as the Veggie Patch), outside the Tav, and around the Guild area. This was to ensure that as many people as possible saw the posters and became aware about the event and when it was on.

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The photos being exhibited will display photographs of:
·      People who have suffered from bad mental health

·        Before and after photos of somebody who has gone through bad mental health and what their life was like afterwards

·        People’s Physical impersonations of depression, anxiety, bipolar and stress

·        Photographs of all those that are interviewed for Caryssa’s Documentary

·        And photographs of the Curtin student councillors- so that those viewing the exhibition can identify the people that can potentially offer them help

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Social media is used by millions of people on a daily basis, and is the one of the most effective ways in the world to spread information to large audiences. Because of this, I decided that it was important to create an event page on Facebook that I updated before, during and after the event. I chose this platform as the main social media account to use, as it is the most popular platform. I updated it with various information, including;

·       What would be happening – the documentary, photography exhibit, who would be speaking at the talk, the petting zoo etc.

·       A digital copy of the poster that was created through collaboration with Indiana

·       A short clip of Caryssa’s documentary that would act as a “teaser”, showing them what it would be about and hopefully intriguing them and encouraging them to watch it on the day

On the day, I posted reminders a few hours before each activity took place so that people would be reminded of what was happening; and could then head down and join in. during the activities, I used my photojournalism skills to take photos during each activity, and posted them to attract people to get involved. I also interviewed people to add captions to the photos posted, and also for quotes for my article to be written post-event.

Below is an example of a post that i posted on the morning of the event, encouraging people to visit the photography exhibition.

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Mental health is an integral aspect of life that is often overlooked by people. Because of this, we decided that it was important to draw attention to the issues and impacts that mental illnesses can have on people’s lives. As a group, we made the decision to host an event on Mental Health Day – on October 10th – to use the theme of mental health and raise awareness on this critical issue. We chose to host a variety of activities throughout the day that not only addressed different types of mental illnesses and the way they can affect people, but also outlined ways to cope with different mental issues, and where you can go to find help to reduce their effects. We worked together and utilised our various skills that we have from our different degrees, to create an informative and enjoyable event that would be able to get people involved.

Tameka Riches and Indiana De Paolis, Chairpersons

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Discipline: Photography and Illustration
Contribution to the Event:
My contribution to this event will be shown through my discipline of Photography and Illustration, by a photography exhibition and contributions with other group members from a design point of view. The photography exhibition is help show, support and promote mental health from a visual aspect. The exhibition is going to be presented at Presented at the John Curtin gallery in the Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall Atrium and Access Gallery on campus and will run all day long. The contribution with other members focus around the design element associated with my Illustration discipline. These designs will be created for advertising before the day with a poster design, and on the day, with several Snapchat Geo-Filters- in which I will be working closely with Tameka to create. A team of Curtin Photography students will also be put together to document the day, for future reference and promotion.

Figure 1: Map of the John Curtin Gallery at Curtin University. Digital Image. Available from: Curtin University Website (John Curtin Gallery)

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Discipline - Journalism

Contribution to the Event:

As a journalism student, my role was to promote the event through multiple media platforms to ensure that as many people as possible knew about the day.

The demographic group that we decided to aim our event towards was university students, so my promoting revolved around trying to reach this audience. I used social media and the university magazine, The Grok, to spread the word about our event, as well as producing posters to hang around the campus. As promoting and article writing are contributions that occur before and/or after the event takes place, I posted updates on social media during the day to keep people informed on what was happening and where. On the day, I also gathered information for the article that I wrote after the event, as well as running a petting zoo.