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(Amanda Lipp) Welcome, everyone, to "Video Storytelling:
To Inspire Engagement and Increase Outcomes."
As many of us know, videos have become such a popular medium
that's really dominated the Internet market,
and so we really look forward to sharing the engagement processes
and some of the outcomes you might have with creating videos within your grant,
and really, the star of today's show is a Directing Change Program,
so I'll be really excited to let my co-presenters introduce themselves shortly,
Stan and Jana, who will walk us through their program
and how they started a film contest
and how they engaged their local constituencies and counties,
so we're really excited to have them on today's call
and just really want to welcome you all and thank you for joining.
And the disclaimer that a lot of us are familiar with seeing on these webinars:
The views and opinions and content expressed in this presentation
do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies
of the Center for Mental Health Services,
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
or the US Department of Health and Human Services.
So that's just a quick disclaimer that we have,
and then as, of course, a lot of us know,
we've seen this slide a lot, I'm sure, but this is just a quick overview
of the Healthy Transitions and Project AWARE initiatives,
and really, a lot of us have the same goals in terms
of really increasing awareness of mental health, reducing stigma,
and really streamlining the access that youths and families might need
if they need support for their mental health,
making schools safer and promoting, really,
equity and resilience in communities.
So this is just that overarching perspective of the SAMHSA HT
and Project AWARE initiative for our context.
And now I'd like to-- again, my name's Amanda Lipp.
I'm a Technical Assistance Specialist for the Now Is The Time TA Center.
I'm also a Filmmaker.
And I'd like to pass it along now to Jana and Stan to introduce themselves
and the Directing Change Program, and then we'll get started with the program.
(Stan Collins) Good afternoon, everyone,
depending on where you're at in the country.
My name is Stan Collins.
I'm a Suicide Prevention Specialist with the Directing Change Program,
which is part of the statewide efforts in California,
Each Mind Matters for mental health and suicide prevention awareness.
(Jana Sczersputowski) And hello, everybody.
My name is Jana Sczersputowski,
and Stan and I both work on the Directing Change Program,
and we're delighted to be with you today.
(Amanda) Excellent.
Thank you so much, Jana and Stan.
We really look forward to hearing more about the program and wonderful.
So, for today's objectives, just to briefly go over our agenda,
the first one is to recognize the value and just really quickly, folks,
if you don't mind muting your lines if you're not speaking,
that would be great.
I did hear some typing in the background.
Thank you, everyone.
So, again, today's objectives and agenda,
the first one being recognize the value and research
for using video storytelling in social marketing.
So, why videos, right?
The second one, identify basic video production steps and approaches.
And the last one here, apply strategies for working with local systems and schools
in implementing film programs and curricula
about mental health promotion and education,
which Stan and Jana will be leading that part of the presentation.
And so I'll be, really, leading the first part
where I really want to just introduce why do video anyway, right?
It's become, really, the dominant medium
in social marketing and in the Internet, really.
When we scroll through our news feeds and when we Google search something,
oftentimes we see a video pop up, or we rely on YouTube to teach us
how to view a lot of the daily activities that we do on a regular basis,
and so why video?
First wanted to really point out a few statistics of why
video marketing is #trending,
and really, I hope all of us are a little bit familiar with the hashtag.
It's really a common--
it's what's often used in Twitter and other channels for recognizing
the trends in key words that folks are using.
So # followed by the word is a way for Twitter and other social channels
to recognize the buckets of words that folks are using
so it can help increase the discoverability of that word, really.
So that's the hashtag background,
but that's not what this presentation is about.
I really just want to kind of go over a little bit about the statistics
of why video is so popular and why it matters.
The first one being almost 50% of Internet users look for videos
related to a product or service before visiting a store.
And that's referenced by Google, and so really,
that's half of folks are looking for videos when they want to learn more
about a service or a product.
And four times as many consumers would rather watch a video
about a product than read about it.
So when we think about writing a blog or writing an article
or creating an issue brief or a white paper about something,
how can we consider and translate what that data
or what those outcomes or education points might be
into a video or multimedia format,
because people are more likely to look at that information
or engage with that if it's translated into a more multimedia
or video-based content.
And also, that relates to looking at our existing content
and library of resources too.
What can we, again, translate into video format or multimedia format
to engage this generation of folks looking at videos more than words.
And that last point, nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer videos under 60 seconds.
And that's an important note,
because as I go into this next slide, the best channels for posting videos,
you'll see that first symbol, that's the Instagram symbol,
and that third bullet there is the 60-second limit
that Instagram has of posting videos.
So it's important to also consider the length of video
as it relates to the channel that you're posting videos on,
because if you post a video on Instagram that is more than 60 seconds,
it actually won't let you.
And so that's just an important note when you consider the length of the video.
And just the brief statistics on Instagram:
it's clearly one of the largest video platforms for videos and photos.
Over 95 million photos and videos shared daily
and 500 million active users that are primarily a younger demographic,
so if, when you look at your social marketing plan
or your existing audience of your grant, if you have a relatively young demographic,
then consider these 60-second videos that you can post on Instagram
if you do have that channel that you are promoting information or resources.
And then Facebook.
That's a great place to post videos as well,
especially if you already have a large existing following,
folks who are already following your Facebook page,
because when you post a video on your Facebook page,
those who are already following you on Facebook are predisposed
to like, comment, or share those videos.
And the more engagement, meaning the more likes
or the more shares or the more posts on that video,
the higher up the videos are on those timelines that we look at
when we scroll through and see all the posts, right?
So the more likes and the more shares means the longer and the more engagement
you're going to have in Facebook, and folks are going to see it more.
So, really, it really does matter to have a larger following
in relation to the outcomes you might have on that video as well,
so it's really a twofold strategy to garner a following
as you post these videos to your audience.
And then YouTube is often, because it's owned by Google,
so videos are more likely to show up in organic Google search
results than one hosted elsewhere.
So when you type into Google, "I'm hearing voices,"
or "I'm feeling depressed," or anything for that matter,
Google is going to optimize and push that up higher
on the search pages because it is owned by Google.
So YouTube is a really great platform to use because it is owned by Google,
and Google really optimizes the discoverability of those videos.
So that's something to keep in mind when you are posting the videos
and posting them on your website, to use YouTube as that hosting platform.
So what types of videos help your grant goals?
And now think about the marketing plan that you may already have,
so video marketing can be that extra layer
or that extra branch of your existing social marketing plan
that you may already have.
So I wouldn't get overwhelmed by a video marketing plan
so much as thinking about how videos relate to your existing plan,
your existing goals, your existing audience,
and how you can create videos
that really meet that constituency that you have.
And if you don't have a social marketing plan,
then I would suggest doing a quick analysis
and research of really why are you creating those videos.
What's the strategy? What are the outcomes that you want?
And really, what is that content going to be?
What are you trying to inspire or educate within these videos?
And so here's just some general production steps
just to kind of get us warmed up,
and this can be for any video: a 30-second video
to a 5-minute storytelling video or a documentary film for that matter,
that is a full feature.
We have that first pre-production step,
and really, it begins with the question of "Why?"
Why are we creating these videos?
How do these videos align with our grant goals?
And then "What?"
Do we have the resources? Do we have the assets?
Do we have the partners?
Do we have the money to literally create these videos?
And then, of course, "How?"
If we know we want to do these videos, we have the resources,
then how do we coordinate the actual production of these videos?
Which leads us to the actual production
and the content collection of these videos.
Are we doing this in a studio-style manner,
are we hiring a cinematographer or a full-service crew,
or are we going to do something like, for example,
a social media call to action contest where we aren't hiring a full-service crew
or a videographer, but we're really asking our audience,
"Hey, can you post a selfie video of why mental health matters to you?"
And then you begin to collect that video content through your existing audience.
So production can really look very different, depending on the resource
and the audience that you have and how you want to leverage
that video content and collect that footage.
And then, of course, post-production,
which is editing the footage or collating the footage,
piecing it together, whether it's through a hired crew,
or, again, if you're collecting videos that your existing audience sent to you
via email or social media and then thinking,
okay, how do we disseminate these videos?
How are we going to promote them?
Can we ask partners to promote them? Can we do an email blast to our partners?
Can we do a radio PSA to announce that these videos are now online for viewing?
And so thinking, again, of those existing resources and pathways
that we have to really promote this content that we have now created.
And then sustainability.
So how do we translate this awesome content that you just created
into something that can be viewed
and appreciated by funders and the community?
For example, if your video got 500 likes or 400 shares,
that is really powerful data that could be translated
into an impact statement or some type of informational asset
that can be shared with funders and the community to show
that, hey, these videos not only are inspiring or educational
but they actually are making an impact, and people are viewing them
and actually engaging with them, and that can really help build buy-in
and potentially sustain grant and get funders on board
with, really, your mission and what you're doing.
So three video styles to consider.
Just very overarching.
We have product videos, service videos, and culture videos.
So starting with product videos, really, those can be considered the what,
which really introduces the features or benefits of a particular program or product,
really walking through the nuts and the bolts of how--
or of what your program or product does.
So kind of more of an educational nuts-and-bolts type of video.
And then service video is really the how.
It might unveil the process of a program
or introduce the staff of a particular service site,
and really, unveil that behind-the-scenes how
of what the service is that you are offering your audience.
And then culture videos, the why.
And these might be considered those storytelling videos,
when you're really capturing the mind through the heart.
And it might humanize your product or program on a more emotional level
and really build that buy-in.
So instead of maybe creating a video that walks through the what
and the how of your program or service,
maybe starting with a story to really build that emotional buy-in
might be a good strategy to start with and then work your way
into the service videos and product videos
once you really build that emotional buy-in for the viewer.
And so these are three video styles you may consider,
and the length that you might consider as well.
So there's kind of two options that folks often go when they think of a video
and it really boils down to:
are we going to hire a full-service crew or a videographer,
or are we going to activate the staff and the community and the volunteers
that we have in our community?
And there's pros and cons to both sides,
so if we just start with the pros and cons of hiring a full-service crew
or a particular professional to do the videography,
the pros are really that you're going to get, hopefully,
a professional-quality video that you can really promote
and be proud to put out there on your website and social media channels.
And it can still be grantee and community-guided, of course,
but professionally implemented.
And this also might be an opportunity in an investment to learn a process,
to learn a foundation, to learn a standard
for what a professional-quality video might look like if that's the goal
and the vision that you have for your video.
If this might be that hallmark video that goes on the front page of your website
and you really want it to be-- to capture that heart,
to capture that mind, then you might invest
in hiring a professional or crew to really build that foundation
of a quality product that you envision.
Of course, the cons: it might be more money,
but the return on investment is that you learn
and that you have a good video, right?
So there's always these trade-offs.
And usually these videos have a longer timeline,
but again, it's discussing what the return on investment is
for your community.
Is it worth that wait and that money to really learn a process
and have a professional-quality video?
And then working our way down to activating the staff,
community, and volunteers.
Let's say you have zero money,
and you really don't have any budget to create a video,
then really it's thinking outside the box
and that really kind of refers to this quote down here:
"Budgets may be tight, but creativity is always free," right?
So if you have zero dollars or money for creating a video,
then really thinking outside the box as far as who do we have in our bucket,
who are the followers on our Facebook page,
who are the passionate advocates and volunteers that are in our grant community
that might be interested or have the assets and the tools to create a video?
And that picture there of that girl holding the iPhone,
I think is really poignant, because these days we don't need much
to create a high-quality video, right?
People have film--have video cameras in their pockets, these iPhones,
these Androids, that can output a 1080P or even 4K resolution.
Oftentimes we have the resources that we need.
It's just a matter of piecing it together.
So the pros of activating the staff and community is that it's free,
but then, of course, the con might be that,
well, this will take staff time, and is that sustainable?
Can we dedicate 10 hours a week, 20 hours a week,
to really engaging our audience and asking volunteers to give their time
or to use their equipment to create a video?
And so the quality might be a little bit technically lower
but then the pros are that it's an organic, authentic,
community-built video that folks can relate to on a different level.
It's really thinking through what those resources are
and what the goal is of the video
and where this video will ultimately live, on your website,
or is it just going to be through social media?
And so thinking through those resources is really something
that can help you understand what direction you want to go.
And maybe it's a combination of both.
Again, maybe a call to action on social media
where you are going more of the route of activating the staff
or volunteers might be a better option for you
and you are posting a Facebook post, for example, that says,
"Hey, share a 15-second selfie video of why mental health matters to you
"and the first 20 people to email us or post a video
will get a free T-shirt or a free registration to a conference,"
or, you know, offering some kind of an incentive for providing that video
will also build buy-in and may garner more engagement
from your existing audience.
You can get that kind of user-generated content
where they're sending you content that you can then consider
how to piece together depending on, again, the goals that you have.
And so, really, just visualizing captures it well,
or really, in this era of influencers--
and I think that's often sort of a word that we hear, right?
These influencer people who are really putting it out there.
We're really in this generation where folks are doing selfie videos
and posting behind-the-scenes content of what they're doing
and really lifting the hood of what's going on.
So it can sometimes cause trepidation or feel intimidating
but there is so much content out there
and there are so many folks that are posting videos,
especially the younger demographic,
but it's really that generation that is teaching us that we don't have
much to lose with putting it out there.
And leveraging stories and leveraging those influencers
in our audience can really be a great asset, because folks usually--
it's sharing that can be difficult but putting it out there
can really be also a strategy for the grant.
It's showing an example for why stories really matter.
And this is just an example of what--
how you might walk through a video production,
sort of needs assessment for your grant.
So the first one being researching the problem.
This is really the pre-production process.
So for example, maybe the problem is that, hey,
youth aren't seeking supportive services that they may need.
That's our problem, and that's what we're trying to fix.
And that leads you to a second step of identifying the goal.
So, how do we fix this problem?
Well, we want to increase awareness of our services to families and youth,
ages 18 to 24.
That's the goal from this problem that we have.
And the third step being, "Okay, well, how do we develop this strategy?"
Will we want to reach youth and families?
Do we want to post videos through social media and through our blog?
And the fourth step being, well, what is this product?
So we have a problem, we know what goal we want to reach,
we know how we want to do it,
so then, what is that product, what does it look like?
And that's where it really kind of gets fun
and you can start to envision who is in this video,
what the themes are, what the music is,
what the feel is, how long it is,
and really what that vision is for that video.
And then get in that vision, what capacity,
what resources, what assets, what partners do we have
that can help reach this audience and really make this vision,
this product, possible?
And then the sixth step, predict and measure impact.
And that's really that post-production process
of how did we increase our engagement?
Did we get more clicks to our website?
Did we get more followers on Facebook?
So having that baseline before you start the video dissemination
is really important, too,
so you can see the difference in how the video impacted your community
and you can see and you can leverage that data
to show funders and show the community that these videos are reaching people,
increasing referrals, website views, Facebook followers, Twitter followers,
and all of that good data that can really help build value
and buy-in for these products.
And then seven, what did we learn? What were the challenges?
What were the lessons learned? What were the growing pains?
Will we hire a crew in the future, or will we do a more user-generated content--
strategy in the future, or will we do both and test which one maybe works better.
And so going through these steps for each and every video that you create,
whether it's 30 seconds, 5 minutes, hiring a crew or activating volunteers
is really important to walk through so you can really be strategic
and insightful about your products.
With that said, I'm going to pass it off to Directing Change.
We're so excited again to have Jana and Stan on here to tell us more
about their program, their student film contest,
and we will have ample opportunity at the end as well, folks,
about 15 to 20 minutes for Q&A, so please put on your thinking caps
and think of the challenges or the lessons learned
or the resources that you have
and that you may have experienced with video production,
so we can think through these things together as a collective
and hopefully answer those questions, or at the TA Center,
we can send you resources and provide that level of support that you might need.
So with that said, I'd like to pass it off to Jana and Stan.
(Jana) So, thank you, everybody.
So our intent right now is to just provide you with an overview of the program,
and it's really a program that's built on county, community, and school partnerships,
and share with you some of the lessons learned that we have
so that you can apply them to any type of video-based or youth-engagement program
that you might be thinking about implementing, you know,
in your own communities, and we'll also highlight a lot of free resources
that are available to you and just a multitude of films
that are available to you, again, free of use
and to integrate into the work that you're already doing.
So with that, the Directing Change Program engages students and young people
to learn about the topics of suicide prevention and mental health in an innovative way,
so through a film contest.
And really, the goals of the program are to inspire young people to learn
the warning signs for suicide, to change conversations about mental health
in families, schools, and communities, and also to give back
by having this library of PSAs,
they're all 30 or 60 seconds long, available at no cost to people
and organizations to raise awareness about these topics.
I want to share just a little bit about the learning methodology.
So the Directing Change Program starts with exposing youth to knowledge
about the topics by providing both instructional tools to educators
and educational resources to youth.
And so youth have to really apply knowledge
and that they've gained and that they've researched about suicide prevention
and mental health and then formulate
and create their own unique message for their peers,
so it's really peers talking to peers.
The creative process of the filmmaking requires youth
to really synthesize this knowledge,
which results in a deeper level of understanding.
They're critically analyzing all these parts
and these messages that they want to put into ultimately
a very, very short film and then applying that knowledge,
and so from a learning methodology,
they're engaged via all methods of the learning spectrum.
They see, they experience, they discuss, and then they apply.
In addition to the youth focus part of the program which is the film contest,
the program trains and engages about 300 community members
to learn about safe and appropriate messaging by judging the film.
So, again, learning about suicide prevention and mental health
and then applying that knowledge by judging the youth film.
And then the final piece of the program is that once these films are created,
they're used in schools and communities to raise awareness
and spark conversations and impact social change.
We were really fortunate that we had--
we were able to have an independent evaluation
conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
So I mentioned this in the learning methodology,
the learning objectives are embedded in the submission criteria.
So, for example, for the suicide prevention submission category,
youth learn about the warning signs for suicide, you know,
that you shouldn't keep it a secret if a friend tells you about suicide,
to talk to a trusted adult.
On the mental health side, how important it is to get help
and get help early, to not delay help-seeking,
information about mental health, information about mental illness
and how important it is to stand up for others.
If you look here, one of the remarkable findings that you can see
on the screen in front of you is that the program,
it was a cross-sectional design,
and it evaluated participants in the program
and then also similar youth that didn't participate in the program,
and the survey didn't take place til three to six months
after our submission deadline.
So the effects that were seen in the evaluation showed
that the learning lasted for several months
at the time of the evaluation.
And we receive a lot of anecdotal data from our teachers and our partners
that hear back from youth years after they developed the film
or participated in the program
that share how they remembered learning about the warning signs for suicide
or something they learned during making their film
and were able to draw up that knowledge and act on it.
So here are just a few more findings from our evaluation highlighted on screen.
For example, 86% of program participants indicated they learned about what to do
if a friend shows warning signs of suicide.
They were also more willing to engage in conversations.
They had fewer attitudes, negative attitudes,
that contribute to stigma about mental illness.
And a really important one was that participants
who participate in the program,
not only did they know more warning signs,
but they were able to differentiate between a friend that appears fine
on the outside, you know, gets good grades,
is really popular, you know, just seems to have no problem in the world,
but the pain that they could still be feeling on the inside and kind of this subtleness.
So we're actually going to show you a few films in just a minute,
but this quote really highlights the program to me.
So, "We began this project because we're filmmakers
"and the contest intrigued us,
"but found that the making of the film was what really benefited us.
"We had the opportunity to learn about the warning signs
"of an individual in need of help
and hope that our film will encourage others to reach out to those around them."
So although there are many youth that participate
'cause they have been personally impacted by suicide or mental illness,
just as many of our young people just participate in the program
as an assignment or to win some money.
They all walk away with a deep level of understanding of suicide prevention,
mental health, and how to help a friend.
And I believe we're going to show you three different films,
and I'll just take a pause.
♪♪♪
(male) Me and my brother are only a year apart
and have always been best friends.
Through everything, my brother has always had my back,
and I don't know what I would do without him.
My brother has always been the happiest kid I know.
But around last spring, he started to change.
He began showing signs of suicide, isolating himself,
and he seemed to lose interest in just about everything.
It was time for me to be there for my brother.
I asked him if he was okay, and he told me how he was struggling.
Together, we reached out for help.
♪♪♪
(male) Although each day may be a battle,
I still have my brother, and that's all that matters.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-TALK.
(female) Why would a person who lives
with a mental health challenge choose not to speak up or seek help?
(female) Hey, you seem a bit down.
Something on your mind?
(female) Um, well, actually, never mind.
You wouldn't understand.
(female) Those living with a mental health challenge
are often discouraged by the stigma surrounding their condition,
fearing that everybody will judge,
that nobody will understand, that no one will listen,
that this isn't a subject that should be talked about.
But a diagnosis of mental illness does not define a person.
(female) You know, I'm always here for you, right?
If you're struggling with anything, you can always come talk to me.
(female) I--so many things
have been running through my mind, and I just felt as though
I shouldn't talk of my diagnosis,
so it really means a lot to know that you're here for me.
(female) It's okay to openly talk
about mental health challenges
to help someone with a mental health challenge find help
and to just be there to support them.
No one has to suffer in silence.
You can join the mental health movement
and find more information by visiting eachmindmatters.org.
(Jana) Perfect.
So Stan is going to share more information about how to access those films, you know,
for any of you that are interested to integrate them into the work you're doing.
But I'm just going to share a little bit more about the structure and funding
and the partnerships of the program.
So a little bit of the backbone.
On the screen, you have the mission statement,
and although we were focused on suicide prevention
and mental health for the past six years,
long-term, we do hope to add additional critical issues
impacting our young people today.
So now that we've shared, you know, some really high-level information
about what Directing Change is all about,
I'm going to give you just a little bit of an overview
of the history and structure.
So the program was actually launched as a demonstration initiative
as part of Each Mind Matters, California's mental health movement,
and it was funded by the Mental Health Services Act.
So for those of you who are not familiar with this,
the Mental Health Services Act imposes a 1% income tax
on personal income in excess of $1 million to go toward personnel
and resources to really support county mental health programs.
And the Act addresses a broad continuing of prevention,
early intervention, and service needs.
And a big portion of the funding is dedicated toward prevention
and early intervention, and that's known as PEI here in California.
And so many county behavioral health agencies pooled their MHSA PEI funding
and formed a joint powers authority to administer the funding,
known as the California Mental Health Services Authority.
So really, all that to say is that back in 2011, many organizations including myself
applied for a series of statewide grants in the areas of suicide prevention,
student mental health, and mental illness stigma reduction.
And the goal of those was really to have a statewide initiative
that could then feed back into local communities.
So the Directing Change Program
was born out of the statewide suicide prevention initiative,
and although it was just a bullet in exam applications back then,
you know, we thought a film contest would be just a fun youth activity.
It far exceeded our initial dreams and expectations.
So to design the program, Stan and I worked with educators,
county officers of education, youth across the state,
and we soon realized there was this huge need
for schools to learn more about suicide prevention
and to have policies and programs in place.
And then there was just as big a need to strengthen relationships
between county behavioral health agencies and their education partners.
So the Directing Change Program became the impetus to really open the door
for many of these conversations to begin and for these partnerships to grow.
Another great partnership we were fortunate to enter into
was with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
They're a California organization,
and they helped us shape and promote the Mental Health Matters category.
Now, as you can see here on the timeline on your screen,
we launched the program at the beginning of the 2012/13 school year.
It is a statewide program, like I mentioned,
but for the submissions we have divided the state into regions.
We began with 11 regions and currently, as you can see on the map,
we have five regions.
Winners are selected from each region and then those winners move on
to the second round of judging, and we select a statewide winner.
And then recently, we can share a few big milestones beginning
with the 2017/18 fiscal year,
the program began operating as a non-profit organization,
and we also launched Directing Change Oklahoma.
So here you can see the new website for the non-profit organization
with links to the California contest and the Oklahoma program.
So as you click on our website after the webinar
and as you're starting to maybe use some of the free resources
that are available to you,
I just wanted to familiarize yourself with how you can find
and what you will see on the home page beginning next week.
So, whether you're implementing, you know, a film contest or a youth program
or, you know, any kind of project with film, I wanted to just spend a couple of minutes
in the importance of partnership, because the Directing Change Program
is really built on partnerships and establishing linkages.
So on screen, the graphic shows the model kind of at a glance.
So on the far left, we have county behavioral health agencies.
They promote the program with their providers
and their contracted agencies, their community partners,
and it also allows them to strengthen relationships with education,
and that could be the county office of education or their local schools.
And then here in the middle we have education partners.
They promote the program as an evaluated and free program
that meets Common Core standards, promotes school climate,
school safety, school wellness, and really links in
with existing policies and requirements.
We introduced--we have two categories, suicide prevention and mental health,
but we also introduced through the lens of culture,
which encourages young people to explore both suicide prevention
and mental health through different cultures with the goal
to reach more into diverse communities and have films in different languages
until we received films in sign language, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic,
films representing the African American,
Native American, -- cultures, addressing gender issues,
just to name a few until establishing partnerships with community-based organizations
that already reach underserved and diverse communities
is really, really essential.
And then it provides them with films and resources, you know,
that really speak to their communities and were developed by individuals
in their communities that don't always exist.
So I wanted to give kind of a hands-on example of what a partnership might look like.
So in Humboldt County, which is up north close to the Oregon border,
it's very rural and quite resource poor,
the county behavioral health agency partnered with a local CBO
to host a series of youth workshops around suicide prevention,
storytelling, and filmmaking.
And that resulted in films that were submitted to the program.
And the CBO actually worked with the local library
who had a lot of the film equipment that was needed
and was able to provide that at no cost.
And then the behavioral health agency partnered with public health
to host a local film screening and recognition event
and that integrated with their Mental Health Awareness Month activities.
Humboldt County many, many years ago
received a SAMHSA-funded children's system of care grant,
and so their paid group created films,
and then they've used the films to raise awareness about
the mental health needs of youth with their local legislators,
really with an emphasis on LGBTQ youth
and also youth in the foster care system.
And then finally, there was a film--
I think we're going to show you a little bit later,
submitted specifically addressing suicide prevention
in Native American communities.
And so that film has been used, you know, quite a bit
to strengthen and start conversations about suicide prevention between the county agency
and the Native American communities in the county.
And then a recent linkage that was just made
was that the suicide prevention coordinator that works with the county
has been able to work with schools and really link up their need
for staff trainings around suicide prevention with existing free training
such as assisting QPR and safe talk
that were available through the county through schools.
So I know that was a lot of information,
but what I was trying to demonstrate is that kind of at the beginning
of all these conversations was Directing Change
that forged all these different partnerships and linkages to take place.
So with a lot of that history and content of the structure,
I'm actually going to introduce Stan Collins
who has years and years of youth suicide prevention expertise
and played an integral role in really making sure
this was not just a film contest but a film contest on the outside
with a really sound, strong program as the backbone,
and so with that, Stan's going to take it from here.
Thank you.
(Stan) My name is Stan Collins.
I'm one of the program managers for Directing Change.
And when we set out on this, you know, this journey to create this program,
we didn't want it to, you know, just be a film contest.
We were excited about the opportunity to engage youth in the filmmaking process,
but we really wanted it to be more than that.
And on the screen, you see what is my guiding principle.
This is a quote from Hayes Lewis.
He was--they were creator of the Zuni Life Skills.
And really, suicide prevention and intervention require constant vigilance,
and this underscores the theme of actually the entire training today.
For suicide prevention to be most effective,
it has to be more than a one-day or one-week type of event.
And suicide prevention needs to be integrated in the protocols and procedures,
and we need to remain vigilant around suicide prevention along
with mental health awareness activities throughout the year.
So the same way in a school setting, we're constantly vigilant
about violence prevention and bullying prevention,
suicide prevention needs to be one of those key topics.
When I first started in this field, 16, 17 years ago,
I was naïve and arrogant, and I would walk into a school
and think that through a one-hour assembly to 3,000 students
that I had just suicide prevented that school, and I would think,
"I'll come back in three or four years, we'll give 'em a booster shot,
and that that's what suicide prevention looks like."
And as you'll see over the next few slides,
it really needs to be so much more than that.
So the program as Jana mentioned,
with the contest as the forward-facing portion of it,
has allowed us to engage in our overall mission,
which is to further assist schools
in progressing their mental health and suicide prevention efforts.
On the screen you see information about AB 2246
and here in California last year we passed Assembly Bill 2246,
which requires all schools that serve pupils in grades 7 through 12
to implement suicide prevention policies.
And what's important about this is that it moves school from a reactive,
intervention phase or mind-set to full-spectrum suicide prevention
which includes prevention, intervention, and postvention.
And through our commitment to directing change in suicide prevention
and mental health over the past six years, when this law passed
we were in a prime position to be a clearing house in California
for school suicide prevention through partnerships
with the Department of Education and County Offices of Education.
We do have more information on this Assembly Bill on our website
and I'll show you how to get there in just a moment
if you'd like to learn more about
what proper suicide prevention policies look like in a school setting.
So as I mentioned, we really--
the Assembly Bills as well as just our efforts
with Directing Change really wanted to shift the focus.
On the screen you see a spectrum of, you know,
what is truly proper best practice suicide prevention.
Unfortunately, over the past decade, most schools would start at the end,
which is student engagement, so they would walk in there.
Again, they would do a one-hour training with students,
maybe or maybe not they would train the staff.
Parent engagement was often, you know, kind of overlooked.
And the way that most policies were written in a school setting were to be reactive,
that if a student threatens suicide, we will do A, B, and C.
And really, what we're--what we know through the SAMHSA toolkit,
"Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for School," through Jonathan Singer's work,
through just best practice suicide prevention in the years we've done--
been doing it in the school setting,
is that it really starts with strong policies and procedures.
It's getting everyone on the same page, it's getting all staff trained,
it's shoring up assessment protocols and procedures inside the school setting,
prior to going in front of the students.
You know, a lot of times when we go into the school setting,
it's no longer a request to train staff
or demanding that we train staff prior to getting in front of the students,
but again, it raises the bar from just an intervention reactive phase
to a prevention as well as postvention, how to respond after a suicide.
So through Directing Change, we offer a number of educational resources.
Again, these are all available for free on the Directing Change website.
You see there the direct URL,
but when you go to Directing Change you will click on the "For Schools" tab
and everything on the website from fact sheets to Prezis and lesson plans,
we're also happy to provide participation booklets
and do educational Skypes-- Skype sessions with classrooms
so youth can participate in the program on their own,
but we provide a lot of support if the program is offered as part
of a classroom or a community-based youth organization.
So some examples of how teachers have used them.
The program has been implemented in physic--
or civics classes or in a psychology class as a final class project for seniors,
as an extension to a script writing or a creative writing lesson.
Some teachers will offer it as extra credit or possibly during an English class.
Some--one teacher actually broke students into teams
and asked them to research topics,
then pick a category and write a script for the film
and then the entire class voted for which script they would then create a film for.
Another teacher required films as part of a graded senior project,
and the films were presented to the entire school
in a science fair type of format and also broadcast in each classroom.
And as we go through the next slides, I'll give you some other examples
of how these films have been utilized and how they've been implemented,
but again, on our website you can find a number of educational resources
to provide a curriculum for suicide prevention or mental health.
So rather than trying to replace or compete with some
of the leading existing programs for mental health and suicide prevention--
you see some of them listed here on the screen.
What we serve is really as a complement or a supplement to those programs.
So Directing Change can either be the launching pad
to engage further with some of these programs,
bringing in staff trainings and further student engagement programs,
or if schools are already engaging youth around suicide prevention and mental health,
this can be an opportunity for them to have continued follow-up,
so the youth have now learned about mental health and suicide prevention,
but a lot of times they become impassioned and they want to do something
and Directing Change has been able to partner with many of these programs
as that opportunity to change these youth into advocates for change.
So we've been talking a lot about the program implementation
and I wanted to spend a few minutes breaking down some of the categories
and some of the specifics about how people participate.
So this year we added a 30-second category.
In previous years we've only had 60-second films that were able to be submitted,
so we have a Mental Health Matters category, a Suicide Prevention category,
and a few years back we implemented Through the Lens of Culture.
So these films are still about mental health or suicide prevention,
but we ask youth and young adults to explore these topics
through the lens of a culture.
We give them a wide definition of what culture can mean
so it could be a more defined culture, say, Latino culture,
LGBTQ culture, or it could be a less-defined culture
like nerd culture or jock culture.
We also this year added two 30-second categories,
as I mentioned: SanaMente which is a Spanish language mental health category,
as well as Animated Shorts.
We've received a number of animated films,
and they're really a draw to some of the youth who get to see them.
So the program is open to youth in grade 7 through 12
and then youth and young adults ages 14 to 25 in two separate categories.
We do require that all film teams need to identify an adult advisor
to review the film.
This is also a support system for the youth.
Obviously, working around these topics can bring emotions to the surface,
and we wanted to make sure that each of the youth who participate
have that adult that they can seek support from.
We don't limit the number of submissions by participants
or schools or organizations, and oftentimes we have youth
and young adults participate on a number of the films.
There's also no limit on the number of people who can work on a film.
And as far as the school types go, we are open to all school types,
so whether it's home school, private school, public school.
We actually received a number of films from youth in juvenile detention facilities,
and so we really want to make this program as accessible as we can
to as many youth as possible.
So in just a second we're going to show you a few films from
the Through the Lens of Culture category,
but I just wanted to spend a second and let you know
how to access these films on your own.
So when you go to the Directing Change website,
you'll see a tab at the top that says "Watch and Use Films."
When you click on that, as Jana's mentioned,
we've received over 2,500 films to the program
and over 1,000 of those are listed on our website.
So you can search for them by category, by county.
We also have a tab for Films for Diverse Communities.
When you click on that tab, you'll find the films
for the Through the Lens of Culture category.
The films that are submitted to this category are also able to be submitted
in languages other than English, and for that reason,
we require that they include subtitles or Closed Captioning.
We also do that so that these films can be more accessible
to the deaf and hard of hearing community.
But with that, we're actually going to pull up a couple of these
Through the Lens of Culture films
and see if we can get the technology to work again.
(Stan) Through the program
we've received a number of just amazing films representing diverse communities,
and one of the-- a few of the prompts in addition
to being focusing on mental health or suicide prevention,
we wanted to take the opportunity and with these films
to allow youth to really not just explore--
a lot of times we talk about how youth will-- or how culture plays a negative role,
that we talk about the stigma in this culture and how mental illness--
or, you know, sometimes there isn't a word even
for suicide in a culture, and we really wanted to encourage youth
to also take the opportunity to explore how culture can be a positive,
how having a stronger family connectedness or stronger belief in faith
can really allow people in that culture to find solidarity and to find support.
So it's been really impressive to see the ways
that the youth represent culture in their films,
and again, we encourage you to check out any of those films on our website.
So one of the key things that we've learned through the program
is that for us to be successful,
it was about being organized, it was about providing a variety of tools
in a variety of different formats that can apply and appeal to different individuals.
And to get the outcomes we needed and the outcomes we wanted,
we needed to be thorough in our preparation.
So if you'd like to learn more about the program
and just all the nuts and bolts and components of it
and just all the material, the pieces that we put into it,
you can visit our website,
and on the Getting Started tab you'll see a Prezi,
and that Prezi will take you through, you know,
step by step what it takes to be a participant in the program
and what it takes to implement the program.
This was originally created so that as the students and teachers
are trying to get involved,
they can learn about each of the individual steps along the way,
but I think if you were to view it you'll get a better understanding
of just kind of steps one through ten as far as participating in the program.
So what I'd like to do now and I briefly mentioned this earlier,
but I want to talk about some of the different ways
that this activity or how Directing Change, the program,
has been integrated in the classrooms and after schools activities.
So I mentioned a few of these that you see here on the screen earlier,
but what I want to talk about really is how these films have impacted school climate.
So, again, the program is statewide,
and we've gotten feedback from the schools who have participated,
high schools, colleges, community colleges, about how they used Directing Change
and the films that have been created as a launching pad.
So, now that we're six years into the program,
we have schools who started out year one,
not really engaging or embracing mental health or suicide prevention
on their campus who are now hosting week-long events
to raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention.
Some of the films will be screened daily in a school
during Mental Health Awareness Week on a closed circuit morning bulletin.
At San Francisco State campus, they created a YouTube channel
and they used the films to create, you know,
campus-wide awareness and wellness activities
called San Francisco State Cares.
And the films were also offered to faculty and staff
as resources or discussion for classes.
In Fresno County the films were showcased as part of Career Skills Challenge
and were used to introduce a student assembly
on mental health awareness and suicide prevention in May.
And just anecdotally, we can tell you that not just is it a school
or campus-wide impact, but through the years
we have received a number of emails and phone calls
from students who participated five years ago as a freshman
and then four years later, going in their freshman year at college,
because of their participation in the program they attribute it to,
they were able to see warning signs in a roommate.
They were familiar with what crisis resources were available.
They felt comfortable having that conversation
and asking directly about suicide.
So, again, as Jana mentioned, the evaluation, you know,
shows that kind of hard evidence of the work,
but it's the anecdotal stories that really keep us going every day.
So a few examples from different schools around the state.
At Murrieta, which is in Riverside County,
they've, over the past four years, submitted 266 films.
Last year they--we received over 100 films from Riverside Counties.
That includes, again, high schools, colleges,
and youth organizations.
At Murrieta Valley High School, their SADD club,
Students Against Destructive Decisions, was led by a senior in organizing activities,
and a quote from her says,
"It's been hard to cope with one of our students' death.
"We wanted to educate people and let them know that suicide
"not only affects the family and friends, it affects the entire community.
"And our goal is to make sure that every student feels
there is a different answer than suicide."
And so they're going to screen one of the films called "My Best Friend"
throughout the activities during the awareness weeks.
Also during morning announcements, they're going to talk about knowing the signs
and symptoms associated with suicide and what resources are available.
They engage in an activity called "Have a Heart Day,"
asking students to write a compliment on a heart outline
and post it around campus.
And then Resolution Thursday,
which calls for students to write positive goals for the school year.
Another high school, Whitney High School, which is in Northern California,
they included Directing Change films as part of their weekly morning announcement,
so their journalism class were the students who had participated and created the films,
and so each day the student anchors, as you see on the screen,
wore our Each Mind Matters T-shirts.
Each day they showed a different Directing Change film
created by one of their students.
On Monday they talked about general mental health awareness.
On Tuesday they talked about starting a conversation about mental health.
On Wednesday they had a interview with a current student
talking about how they had dealt, and you know,
continued to live with depression and how they had moved
through their thoughts of suicide.
On Thursday they featured a story from a recent graduate
talking about how they had continued to live strong with mental illness
and then on Friday they actually did an interview
with some individuals from County Behavioral Health
talking about what resources are available.
So, again, these films and the students' participation
really moves them from a place of just being assigned a project
or maybe even wanting to do a film to really becoming passionate advocates.
Not that every student does this,
but one of our students when they moved on to college
switched from being a film major to a psychology major,
became the president of the Active Minds chapter
and is now speaking around the state
around mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
So on the screen you see a number of other examples
from around the state from different schools,
and Jana and I would be happy to talk with you individually
about some of the other ideas to get the schools to, again, open the front door.
We always talk about Directing Change being a kind of a sneaky way--
if you go to a school and you ask them
if they want to engage on mental health and suicide prevention,
it's not always going to be as positive of a response.
It's a lot easier to get into a school by asking,
"Hey, do you have some students who might want to participate
in a film contest?"
And through that we're lighting the fire from within.
So we're going in the back door to open up the front door
to a variety of prevention resources,
connecting schools with their offices of education
and further with behavioral health agencies and community-based organizations
to really support the schools in doing comprehensive
mental health and suicide prevention.
So with that, Jana and I just want to say thank you for letting us
share our program with you.
Again, all of our resources and thousands of films are available
to view on our website.
And I believe we'll be back in just a few minutes to answer any questions
you may have about the program.
(Amanda) Excellent.
This is Amanda again with the TA Center.
I want to thank Stan and Jana for that awesome presentation, eh?
I think I speak for all the audience members when I say
that there were so many tips and lessons learned and great examples
and very inspiring videos as well that--
and the categories that as well give us some great examples
for how grantees might structure or begin programs like this.
And so thank you so much for sharing those examples and your program.
And we'd like to really open it up to all of you and check in.
Are there any questions or comments that relate to the presentation
that either I gave at the beginning about the production steps
and general overview or any questions that you'd like to direct towards Jana and Stan
about their Directing Change student film contest?
So I'll just, with that said, pause and give folks a few moments
to really absorb and either type in the chat box
if you have any questions, if that's more comfortable for you,
or unmute your phone and let us know what questions you might have.
(Stan) You know, Amanda, this is Stan.
If I can actually hop back in real quick.
We talked a lot about the educational resources around mental health
and suicide prevention that we offer,
but as you were speaking earlier about how to create a film,
we also do have a section on our website that is specifically geared
to youth on how to create a film.
So we kind of have two groups of youth who come to us.
We have the youth who are passionate about the subject
but may not have the filmmaking experience,
so we wanted to make sure we had resources available to them.
And then separately we have the filmmakers who may not be passionate about the topics,
and we wanted to give them the information on how to learn
about mental health and suicide prevention.
So we really tried to be as thorough as we could and accepting of all the students
regardless of their experience levels.
(Amanda) Excellent.
Yeah, thank you, Stan, for pointing that out
and all the free resources on the directingchange.org site.
There is quite a breadth, folks, so if you do go visit,
I highly recommend it.
It offers really great examples for the curricula,
and then also, like Stan said, the tips for filmmakers on the topics
and the best practices for suicide prevention
really gives a great example and things you may use or consider
for your program or for the films that you create.
And so thank you, Stan.
And with that said, any questions towards Stan or myself or Jana
about the presentation and just open it up to anyone.
Okay, well, I'll take the sounds of folks' thinking very hard about their programs
or the videos that they've created and maybe folks are already looking
at the directingchange.org site.
Again, it has, I think Stan said over 1,000 films in the gallery,
and they really offer great examples for the types of content
and themes and stories that folks are sharing.
Oh, it looks like Barbara Anderson, thank you.
Looks to be a question for you.
You said, "I know the webinars are recorded and posted," yes,
"and I will be encouraging each of our Local Education Agency Grant Managers
to also watch the recording."
Great, thank you, Barb.
Barb also says, "This is an area we have identified as a goal for Iowa,
and I will be reviewing your website and may contact Jana and Stan."
Well, thank you, Barb.
Definitely, we appreciate those comments,
and I know Jana and Stan appreciate those comments too.
That's wonderful.
Please do, folks, share this information, this webinar,
with your Local Education Agency folks and State Education Agency folks as well,
and also community-based partners that you may have.
And I will also note that our next webinar will be on digital advertising
and that's often the next step after videos are created
is really how do you promote them,
how do you invest in maybe Google ad words
or boosting your Facebook page
so that way you get more folks viewing the content.
So on the next webinar we'll give some foresight
that we dive into more of the technical and administrative budgetary considerations
you might walk through for sort of boosting the views of your videos.
So stay tuned for that announcement for the digital advertising webinar
that's coming up December 4 of this year.
(Stan) And Amanda, just real quick.
I just wanted to offer that if anyone would like to, you know,
engage with the program and learn more about it,
of course you're welcome to contact Jana and I,
we'd be happy to speak with you.
But I also just wanted to put out the invitation that if anyone
would like to participate as a judge in the program
it's all done online, and it's about an hour and a half.
We take judges through about a 45-minute orientation
to familiarize them with safe messaging
around mental health and suicide prevention,
and then you're assigned about 10 to 12 60-second films,
so if anyone would also like to participate as a judge, please contact us,
and we think it'd give you an even better understanding
of how the program really works.
(Amanda) Yes, thank you
for mentioning that, Stan.
I can speak on that too.
I was and am a judge for the Directing Change film contest myself,
and I can say it was a great opportunity to learn
about the content that folks were creating,
the high school students and the college students.
To watch these one-minute PSAs and to judge them
was a great opportunity for myself, the professional,
to learn suicide best practices but also as a filmmaker to learn
storytelling mechanisms and styling and cinematography and things like that.
So it's a great way to learn and to see what's out there to be a judge.
So thank you for mentioning that, Stan.
I recommend folks reach out if they're interested in that opportunity.
Any other questions or comments for folks directed towards Jana, Stan, and myself?
More in the chat box.
We have a question from Barb again.
Thanks, Barb.
I'm going to read it to everyone.
Barb says, "I'm certain you covered this, but is the film contest open nationally?"
(Stan) At this point, the--
(Jana) And this is Jana.
Can you take--can you guys hear me okay?
(Stan) Yes.
(Jana) Great.
So the contest itself is not open nationally.
We're only--we've been well established in California for the past six years,
and we've just launched Oklahoma, so the Directing Change itself
is only available in those two states right now
but all the resources and the films, everything is free,
and there are other film contests, and so I think that's the beauty of it.
We--you know, we built Directing Change based on other film contests,
so if you're in a certain state, you know, please reach out to us,
and we can see where that film--
We can just share-- and anything that you have, you know,
to apply to any local program that you might want to create.
(Amanda) Excellent.
Thank you, Jana.
(Stan) I was just going to point out
I mentioned this earlier, but I think one of the resources
that might be especially useful as I was, you know,
kind of listing all those educational resources,
I'd really encourage folks to check out on the For Schools page,
we have a Prezi, a suicide prevention 101 Prezi,
and if you're not familiar with Prezi, it's kind of a dynamic PowerPoint,
but what we did is basically created a gatekeeper training
that utilizes Directing Change films,
so in that Prezi it will discuss warning signs,
and it will show a few films about warning signs.
It will discuss risk factors and it will show a few films about risk factors.
It will talk about ways to reach out for help,
talking to an adult or calling a crisis line.
And it will show films: one film that demonstrates
a student going to a counselor and reaching out for help,
another film that had an individual get in touch
with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
So I would really encourage of all the resources that you definitely spend
some time checking that out, and it might be an opportunity
for you to utilize this as a curriculum piece.
(Jana) And Amanda, this is Jana.
I actually wanted to just offer a tip as my--
just based on the questions that have just come in.
If you are thinking about creating a film contest or, you know,
it is a really great strategy to create
video-based content for your program.
Having started this as an idea of, hey, let's have a film contest,
and you know, this is great for youth.
We'll have these great films to use.
It's not a program where you hang up a few flyers
and you'll get a lot of film submissions.
I mean, one thing that we've learned, we researched about 25 other film contests
is the biggest challenge film contests have is submission.
And so we have, you know, in California, we have more than a full-time person
knocking on doors talking to youth, building partnerships.
So it's just--it's for any of you that are thinking about
implementing something like this,
don't make the assumption that it's easy to get submissions.
It's really, really hard work.
It takes, you know, 25 conversations, if not 50 conversations for every submission.
You're going to work really hard,
and it's about-- it's not a quick blitz project.
It's something that you probably have to think about long-term
and see how those relationships work out,
building relationships with youth organizations,
with the schools, but it's not something you can quickly decide,
promote a little bit, and expect a huge outcome.
It's really hard work to get the submissions.
And I think that's not intuitive.
I think we all think that, hey, I'm going to post this contest
and youth are just going to, you know,
swarm up in hordes and submit films.
And we have not found that to be true.
It's hard work.
It's a little bit of a--just a, you know, with the reality check that we've learned
and that we've certainly learned from every other film contest that we talked to.
(Stan) Yeah, and another component
that we didn't actually speak to much at all today
was our award ceremony that we do at the conclusion of the year.
That has really been a way for youth-- the statewide--
those who participate and make it into the statewide round of competition
are invited to come to the award ceremony,
the statewide award ceremony, where we have guest speakers.
Writers, producers, directors come and speak,
and that, in addition to the prize money,
has really been a draw for youth to want to continue to come back,
"and next year I want to win,
next year I want to be up on that stage."
So having an award ceremony to recognize the youth.
And then also, on a smaller level, on a county level,
it's been a great way to get buy-in for mental health and suicide prevention.
When a board of supervisors or a local assembly member
or state senator learns about youth in their area
participating in the program, oftentimes they'll receive
a proclamation or a letter of appreciation.
And so it's, you know, the reach of the program
and how it's getting more people engaged through--
in suicide prevention and mental health,
not just through the judging process but also through the buy-in
and the support of the students has been really impressive to see.
(Amanda) Excellent.
Thank you, Stan and Jana for elaborating on that.
I think it's definitely helpful to know about, of course,
the reality of the buy-in from students and also the incentives
and then, of course, the recognition of having an award ceremony.
And as a filmmaker, I can speak to that, too, a little bit,
and specializing more of the-- in a documentary narrative film category,
and it can be difficult or challenging to find those youths
who are willing and want to really share their story, right?
And that can take a while to really garner that confidence,
to help them build that confidence,
and hey, like, we want to hear your story
or how do you want to share your story?
What's your culture? What are you comfortable with?
Do you want to do a voiceover, or do you want to be on camera?
How can we represent your story?
And then on the back end while we were also internally discussing
how to really make a film that meets the goals
and the vision that we have for the video,
and so to Stan's point, it takes time,
and Jana's point, it takes really not giving up and really promoting
and as you really build these videos and these examples in this gallery,
if you will, that will also help build buy-in,
so when you're trying to garner more participants
and videos or launch a second film contest,
to show that you've done it before and that you have examples to show youth,
will also help build buy-in and hopefully make the next round easier
and easier as you really build that gallery and that--those lessons learned.
We have about 15 minutes, folks, for the rest of the webinar,
and we'll hold the line for any other questions or comments you have,
and I also want to just briefly just kind of pose
a question to all of you to think about.
And again, use the chat box if you feel more comfortable,
or feel free to unmute your line and speak to all of us,
but question being how can you engage children,
youth, young adults, and family members or parents
in social marketing through video storytelling?
So as you listen to this presentation, we're curious what ideas come to mind
about how you can engage your community,
given their culture and the goal you have of your grant.
Is there any thoughts or ideas or challenges
that are kind of percolating for folks?
We're curious to hear what you all-- what you're all going through.
And I'll just add, too, to kind of just warm us up a little bit,
you know, videos, they can take a lot of time,
or they can be short and quick, right?
Either you're, you know, asking for maybe quick little selfie videos
through social media as a little call to action contest online
or you're doing a full-fledged program like the one that Stan and Jana explained,
or maybe you're creating videos over the course of six months
or a year that will be promoted the following year.
But they do take time and strategy, right?
So given the grant timeline that you have,
it's really good to start sooner than later,
thinking through these questions and really exploring these visions and ideas
with the folks around you,
and it might be just simply starting with a stakeholder group
or a focus group and engaging your volunteers
and your advocates, like, "Hey, what do we want to do?
How can we engage you?"
Let's just ask the community straight up and say,
hey, let's get a stakeholder group
and get five youths and five family and five providers
and really begin to ask this question you see here on the screen as really what--
how can we start?
How can we build a video or a program
that meets you and your friends and your influencers?
Jana and Stan, I wonder if you have
any other last thoughts or tips or challenges
from a programmatic perspective going through this,
and if you were to do it all over again,
if you were to start from square one and go back in time,
what might you do differently,
or what might you sort of re-strategize about?
I wonder if there's any sort of thoughts or challenges
or lessons learned come to mind, if you could rewind.
(Stan) You know, the first thing
that comes to mind is, you know, plan for success.
You know, we set off Directing Change with just--
and the expectation that we honestly hoped
for maybe 50 to 100 films, and maybe it would be a one-year program.
And here we are six years later, you know, 2,500 films later,
so, you know, I think building a strong website,
a strong infrastructure, and then just thinking through, okay,
what if this goes beyond our expectations,
what can we plan?
So, you know, one of the items that we're having to deal with
in regards to that is, you know,
keeping a website that houses that many films.
How do we keep 'em organized?
And so we're reworking that process and going through to make
a better filtering system for how people can find the films,
'cause it's, you know, people are welcome to contact us and say,
"Hey, give me your top ten films, you know, can you--"
As I mentioned, we have the tab for diverse communities
and on that it has a short description of what,
kind of, the film is about to help people identify films
for those diverse communities,
but I would say one thing is just plan for success.
You know, as Jana said, put in the work, boots on the ground, knock on the doors,
make the phone calls, get face-to-face meetings,
and find your champions.
But also allow not just for the worst-case scenario,
but what's the best-case scenario, and how can we make sure
we're leveraging this and doing it appropriately?
(Amanda) Excellent.
Those are really great points, Stan. Thank you for sharing.
I want to just add, too, that, you know,
given that we all have smart-- that we likely have smart phones
and Android phones that have the selfie mode and video capabilities,
think sometimes, you know, it's good as leaders and example-setters,
to really put out even our story first, right?
To really set that example and then set that pathway
that we are reaching out, even making a video
about why you want to create a video to your community
can be a really great way to build buy-in, too,
and show that you are setting that example
for putting yourself out there before you ask others
to put themselves out there, right?
(Stan) You know, again,
I would encourage you to review some of the films,
and you know, really, the films are available to view or download,
so you can view them through YouTube,
so if you're going into a presentation,
you know you're going to have Internet access,
you can pull a couple of them up off of YouTube.
We also have the option for many of the films to download them ahead of time,
so if you're going to a place where you're not sure
if you'll have Internet access and you're going to be doing
a suicide prevention or mental health presentation,
you can download them to a flash drive and plug 'em in.
But really, anytime I'm doing a presentation on the topics,
I find that these films are just a way to kind of decrease
a lot of the fear that people often have
walking into a suicide prevention presentation, knowing it's,
you know, for many of these people, it's the first time,
you know, they've been in a large room of people
and speaking about suicide and suicide prevention.
So, again, just encourage you to know that there's a ton of films out there
and a variety of ways that you can access those films.
(Amanda) And the last thought
that I'll share, too, as a filmmaker putting that hat on
and as a director and editor of filmmaking as well, you know,
the film technology out there is getting cheaper and cheaper
so the cost of making a film is not-- is more of a reality than ever.
In fact, there's actually documentaries out there on Netflix
that have been filmed using only an iPhone, believe it or not.
So it really doesn't take a lot to make an awesome film,
and it really just takes a lot of strategy
and storytelling and creativity if you are thinking of making a film.
And as a filmmaker, my goal personally and professionally,
was to be able to fit all of my technology
and film gear in my backpack, so I can really have it wherever I go.
I think often we think of film, and we think of those big cameras
that people lug around on their shoulders,
those news station camera men and women.
But really, these days, these things fit in our pockets and our backpacks, right?
So thinking of your community and your stakeholders
and what folks already have and how you can leverage
those resources may be great if you do have limited resources.
And also thinking of who you hire and how many hats they wear
so you can really leverage the skill sets
and optimize the resources that you have at your disposal.
We do have a question that came in from Emma.
Thanks, Emma.
The question is, "What is one or some of the programs
you would recommend for editing?"
I can speak to that briefly.
I use a program called Final Cut Pro X.
That stands for Final Cut Pro 10.
That is an Apple-based product.
There's--that's a really great editing tool.
It's also on the medium to advanced side.
Also iMovie is one that comes free with most Apple products
and that's a more basic watered-down version of Final Cut Pro,
which I recommend.
If you're starting out, iMovie is a really great software to use.
Again, Final Cut Pro being the more advanced software,
but it's about $300 to purchase.
Adobe also creates a software, so you may--it's called Premier.
And so you may use that but that's a relatively advanced software.
Also on your smart phones there's many apps
that come either with your phone or that you can purchase
where you can use your thumbs to literally edit down videos
and combine files so it really--
it can be fairly basic to fairly advanced
depending on the types of effects you want or the, again,
the cinematography, the quality, and the color grading.
So it really depends.
You can go from basic iPhone app to Final Cut Pro
or Adobe Premier software purchases, so.
And Stan and Jana, any resources from a editing perspective
that you might want to share too?
(Stan) No, I think you covered it.
You know, I'd just also say that many of the editing software programs,
if you didn't mention this, offer, like, 30-day trials
and a lot of the YouTube participate will do that.
We're still trying to build up some partnerships with more of the, you know,
software companies for editing, trials and such.
We do have-- one of the resources I didn't mention
is we have a partnership with a online film school, Boot Camp.
It's a director out of Hollywood who's a former Navy SEAL,
and he has donated any student who participates in Directing Change
can get a free trial or free access code
to engage with that and so he gives video tips, lighting tips, sound tips.
(Amanda) Excellent.
And Joanne also offered a techsoup.org site
that offers discounts and lower software
for hardware and services for non-profits, so check out techsoup.org.
And like Stan mentioned, leveraging folks
who have different offers as well might be good.
All right, well, wonderful.
I just want to thank everyone for joining today's webinar,
and I hope you learned something or some new ideas came to mind.
Of course, if you need any technical assistance at all,
feel free to reach out at the 844-856-1749 number
or the email: NITT-TA@cars-rp.org if you have any questions,
or if you want resources or any assistance with how you begin your process
with starting a program or leveraging a program or creating a film.
Thank you so much for attending.
And I just want to give another big thank you to Jana and Stan
for sharing the Directing Change Program and giving such great examples and content.
I hope folks check out those films and get inspired.
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