Help with EDP’s
New program could take pressure off the police
No one knows more about the problems suffered by the mentally ill than law enforcement. After all, they are the ones who have to deal directly with people suffering from mental illness. There’s not a cop out there who hasn’t had to help someone with Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder, manic depression, schizophrenia, and worse.
It turns out a majority of Americans will not even tell their own family they have a problem let alone their co-workers or friends, which is why the burden for dealing with these people has fallen to the police. But starting last week a new program is underway. Launched by the New York City Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Health the program is called, “I Will Listen.” The group has produced as series of riveting 60 second commercials that encourage people to make an effort to talk and listen to people who are mentally ill. If the program is successful, it could take a lot of pressure off the police.
Wendy Brennan, executive director of the New York City Metro chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the object of the campaign is not to reach just the estimated “one out of four” who experience a mental health disorder in a given year, but rather “the four out of four that can participate” in being supportive.
.
The chapter began airing one commercial, shot in black-and-white along the East River in Lower Manhattan, that opens on a close-up of Michael Thompson.
“It was my older brother, Tom,” says Mr. Thompson, who speaks to an off-camera interviewer in the style of a documentary. “When I would visit him occasionally, he would talk about things that didn’t make sense to me. Bottom line, I got a call.”
Mr. Thompson sighs, shakes his head as if to banish a thought, purses his lips. A tear rolls down his cheek. “And — and my brother killed himself,” he says.
IWillListen.org website encourages visitors to post their own videos about mental illness, and to close with the signoff, “I will listen.” There are more than 150 videos already posted including some with celebrities including actress Mariel Hemingway and writer Andrew Solomon.
Carol Cone, co-author of “Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding” and managing director for brand and corporate citizenship at Edelman, the public relations firm, was struck by the commercials.
“Instead of focusing on a person with the issue, focusing on family members has a lot of resonance because the whole issue of mental illness is about, not just the person who is affected, but rather the whole ecosystem,” Ms. Cone said. “They’re riveting.”
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
