Summer Moss, who brought an Active Minds chapter to her campus at Samuel Merritt University, shares insight on the ‘Faces of Mental Health’ video series produced at SMU this year.
What inspired you all to produce this video series?
In January we had a workshop around Self Care for the Healthcare Professional featuring the books’ author, Katie Tietz. A nursing student approached me and said she wanted to be involved with what we were doing and that she found narrative to be incredibly powerful. She told me her story and we started brainstorming a way to share that story. We had wanted to reach more students as our chapter grew and it seemed to fit well. Our staff liaison loved the idea and reached out to our school’s media services. The staff were highly interested, having already been a part of other student organizations and had a personal investment in the projects’ success.
What did you learn through the creation of this series?
I learned that narrative is indeed powerful, that people respond best to authenticity, safe spaces, and are more likely to use mental health resources if they feel like they have support.
What feedback did you all receive relating to the three stories shared in the series?
We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from faculty and staff saying how the project has been inspirational, important, and motivating. I had one faculty tell me how necessary Active Minds was for our campus and how happy she was that I started it. Student feedback for me has been largely positive. Our school’s YouTube channel featuring the videos has only received positive comments.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Your story has a lot of power. I had no idea how many students, faculty, and friends would be impacted by the series and recognize how impactful vulnerability can be. It (the video project) does take some coordination and forethought, but I think it is very much worth the effort.
Watch the other two videos produced as part of the series:
