Mental Health Film Festival 2012!

The 8^th annual Mental Health Film Festival in New York City took place last spring and was, as usual, a resounding success with a turnout of at least 150 people, among whom were consumers, family members, mental health professionals, advocates and students. The event was co-sponsored by Community Access, an organization that has been providing programs for consumers since 1974 and NYAPRS, a statewide civil rights advocacy group that has been fighting for consumers since 1981. The theme for this event was Crisis Intervention: Interacting with the Police, which sometimes ends tragically as with the death of Iman Morales in 2010 and Shereese Francis, more recently. Both deaths could have been avoided if the police were trained to deal more sensitively with situations involving mental health consumers. Carla Rabinowitz, festival organizer, said, “The festival shined a powerful light on the growing movement advocating for this and it also shared what too many people don’t often get to see: people with psychiatric diagnoses just getting along with their lives like everybody else.” Hope to see you at the festival in 2013.