San Rafael, CA – Starting January 11, episodes of a new TV series called Meaningful Mental Health will air on the Marin Community Channel (Comcast Channel 26 and AT&T U-verse Channel 99) on Mondays at 5 p.m. and repeat Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
"Meaningful Mental Health" debuts on January 11.
The show was produced with funding from California’s
Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63) and utilized the production services of the
Community Media Center of Marin in San Rafael. Episodes also can be seen on the
webpage of Marin Mental Health and Substance Use Services, a division of Marin County Health and Human Services Department.
"We are very excited to release these shows,” said Suzanne Tavano, the County’s Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Services. “They are the result of the hard work of our Cultural Competence Advisory Board and our community partners. Just as we all need to take care of our physical health, we also need to be mindful of our mental health. We hope these videos bring more awareness and understanding of mental health and substance use issues and what might be done if they occur. Treatment does work and recovery is possible."
Almost 20 percent of Marin adults reported needing treatment for mental health issues or use of alcohol or drugs, according to the 2014 California Healthy Kids Survey.
Over the first three episodes, host Cheryl August interviews guests with lived experience in mental health crises alongside professionals and agency representatives, covering the topics of crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and youth mental health. The show provides information about what to do in tough situations such as calling 911 during an emergency, how and when you should intervene in a crisis, and what services are available and appropriate.
The show was developed using a community collaboration model, bringing together volunteers from the Cultural Competence Advisory Board to work with the Community Media Center of Marin and the Canal Welcome Center. A sister series in Spanish entitled Latinos en La Casa will debut in early 2016.
California's historic commitment to promote prevention and early intervention through the Mental Health Services Act moves the community mental health system toward a help-first instead of a fail-first strategy. The Meaningful Mental Health TV series aims to aid this strategy by increasing public awareness of mental health issues and encouraging intervention before a crisis develops.