Contiuation of YouForMe
I decided to continue working on my nonprofit, to spread my ideas and kick off the ideas I had set in place during project two. I kicked off my jOURnal campaign, came up with a plan for a fashion show, created a PSA for suicide awareness and researched cultural effects on mental illness.
jOURnal
Words have the power to save lives, and give people a voice. I want to give people this power by giving them a journal to express themselves however they may feel appropriate. When they are done they will pass on the journal to anyone that they think needs it. Then they will add a piece of themself to the journal. It emphasizes the OUR, because it is not owned by one person, it is always traveling and belongs to the group. I put things about collecting journals on social media, flyers and school announcements. I collected 31 in a two week time period. I sent out one right away in my school, in my own friend group. Here are pictures of what I have created so far.
Cultural Feel on Mental Illness |
|
I researched how different cultures and ethnicities see mental illness in America. It is often hard to find research on mental illness because of how new quickly spreading it is. There is not a lot of historical evidence with it, that relates to what we have today. I was able to find a good amount of information on it though. Certain cultures had more research than others. With my research I cretated 3 journal entries, from three girls who had the same mental illnesses, were the same age, from the same town, but with their own lives and cultures.
16 year old white female
She has been in an emotionally abusive relationship for the past eight months. She is a sophomore in HIgh School, taking honor level courses with straight A’s. Her childhood was pretty simple and innocent. She had many friends but a couple broken friendships in middle school. She has a rough history with her parents fighting at home. She has a younger brother who she is very close to. She spends a lot of time fantasizing about the future and getting away from her little town. She plays sports, but was bullied by her team mates. She has seeked help through therapy and medication.
16 year old Japenese American female
|
She recently was diagnosed herself with depression from seeking help on the internet. She is not sure if this makes it viable or not. As we see from her symptoms, it is. She has a steady boyfriend who she has been dating for almost a year. She has many friends at school and is currently in the running for valedictorian of her class, although she is still a sophomore. She used to play sports but is finding them to be uninteresting this year. She has had a rough childhood, her mother passed away when she was 9 and she now lives with her father and grandmother. She misses her mother very much. Her dad was born in Japan and married her mother who was a Japanese American novelist.
|
|
16 year old Muslim female
She is very intelligent receiving straight A’s and many awards for things she does. She has a creative mind and is an artist. Her parents support her in many things she does including writing piano music. She has made a personal decision to wear a hijab. Being in high school, this causes some problems for her with mean jokes and stereotyping. Recently she has been going to therapy to receive personal help with a lot of self hatred. Her parents are worried about her. She does not like going to therapy, but they continue to make her go. She has 3 little siblings all under the age of 7. She teaches them about her passion for Islam, and gets the whole family involved in their religion. She wishes her parents would be more religious like her.
Suicide Awareness PSA
For my art portion, I created a suicide awareness PSA. I learned a lot about photoshop and process during this. There are still more edits I will make when I submit it, but here is a personal piece I made representing the thoughts of someone who is suicidal.
