Students throughout California are invited to Direct Change by submitting 60-second films to spread awareness about suicide prevention and ending the silence associated with mental illness. The winning teams and their associated schools will win cash prizes, receive mental health or suicide prevention programs for their schools, get to participate in a meeting with state legislators on these topics, and attend the award ceremony at the end of the 2014-15 school year. Directing Change is part of statewide efforts to prevent suicide, reduce stigma and discrimination related to mental illness, and to promote the mental health and wellness of students. These initiatives are funded by the voter-approved Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) and administered by the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA).

NAMI California is excited to announce the expansion of the education and training component of The Directing Change Student Film Contest! This year, Directing Change is offering an Ending the Silence presentation and suicide prevention programs to students who intend on submitting entries into the contest. There are also additional resources for participants, parents and school advisors. The Directing Change Team will be offering a monthly newsletter to keep participants up-to-date with all developments about the contest and various mental health and suicide prevention topics through articles, educational videos, and current events. Educational films that discuss various mental health and suicide prevention topics will also be released for participants on a monthly basis. The films can be used to provide more information to students and teachers to help inspire the film-making process! Check out the October films about the Mental Health Continuum, mental illness, and stigma:

http://www.directingchange.org/education-videos/

To subscribe to The Advocate: Directing Change newsletter, please visit http://www.directingchange.org/newsletter/

Visit the campaign website for contest rules and information: www.directingchange.org .

Submission Deadlines: February 1, 2015.

Have questions about Directing Change? Contact Lauren Hee at lauren@namica.org or 916-567-0163.

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