The University of California is inviting students to participate in an ongoing video contest to tackle issues of suicide prevention and mental health stigma.
The UC will partner with a video contest called Directing Change, which is organized and funded by the California Mental Health Services Authority’s Student Mental Health Initiative, said Jana Sczerputowski, a program leader for Directing Change. The initiative is funded by Proposition 63, which was passed in 2004 and uses taxes to fund mental health services, according to the California Department of Health Care Services website.
“Research shows that if young people are not taught about mental health illnesses, they are less likely to seek help when they need to,” Sczerputowski said.
The UC will be the first higher education system to participate in the contest, which was previously only open to California high school students. UC students will be judged in a contest separate from high school students, Sczerputowski said.
The competition will not cost the UC anything, said Brooke Converse, UC spokeswoman.
The UC received about $7.7 million in 2011 from CalMHSA to fund three years of mental health resources and services, including staff training programs and depression screening services. It will use $50,000 of these funds to pay for prizes, promotion of the contest, the award ceremony and logistics of the contest.
In the competition, students are invited to submit 60-second public service announcements on either suicide prevention or strategies to encourage dialogue about mental illness.
Winners will earn cash prizes and a 30-minute Skype session with Scott Budnick, who is the producer of “The Hangover” series, “Due Date” and “Starsky and Hutch.”
Last year the contest received 371 video submissions from about 200 schools and about 900 students around the state, Sczerputowski said.
Donations garnered through the competition sponsored a mental illness prevention program at every high school that participated, Sczerputowski said.
Directing Change’s success last year prompted the UC to initiate a partnership with the program, Converse said.
“We hope the contest will improve campus climate regarding mental health issues and help get students talking about mental health in a positive way to reduce negative stigma surrounding it,” Converse said.
The UC is considering making the contest annual, depending on the success of the contest with UC students this year, Converse said.
The deadline for UC students to submit entries is March 21.
Compiled by Emily Liu, Bruin contributor.
—to tackle issues of suicide prevention and
mental health
stigma.
Please read more carefully,
promote to minds the
statement mental health stigma is the reality.
reduce negative stigma
Keeping how much?
Of course, there is one more objection: No
student ought be subjected to a “stigma” by the university. The ADA
prohibits it, the university is obligated to respect
it.
Harold A.Maio
I am aware no university allows “the stigma
of” paralysis, deafness, blindness. It allows only this one. I m aware no
professor will object to it, nor any administrator.