MENTAL HEALTH & HOW COLLEGE DEALS WITH ITResearch into our topic

WHY WE DID IT? & WHAT WE GAINED

Out of all 3 topic options: Abortion; body image and mental health we chose ‘mental health and how college deals with it’, the reason being is because it is a really broad topic, which isn’t spoken out about as much as it should. We felt that not only would it be the most informative and entertaining issue to learn about, we thought that people would learn more about mental illnesses and realise that it isn’t a minor thing and that anyone can have a mental illness without knowing as the spectrum is so broad. From choosing this topic to do our documentary about we feel that our target audience (teens/young adults) will gain a lot of knowledge about mental health and how it can vary from anxiety, depression, bipolar and many more illnesses.

ARTICLES ON MENTAL HEALTH WITHIN COLLEGES

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/studenthealth/Pages/Mentalhealth.aspx

ANALYSIS 1That information is off the NHS website, and it outlines that mental illness is as common amongst the general population, and an expert opinion from a councilor from Oxford university says that mental illness can be treated by counselling and is generally caused by relationship/family issues or “anxiety” about their work.The other screenshot shows the sorts of help that people with a mental illness can get within colleges and universities. Such as websites for students who need tips, a mental health advisor, therapies such as CBT and IAPT.

ARTICLES ON MENTAL HEALTH WITHIN COLLEGES

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/category/blog/school-college-and-university

ANALYSIS 2This secondary research I found was slightly different to the first, this is because it was a blog, which enabled me to read about certain aspects of mental illness people in education dealt with, and to see whether they were open about it. Basically saying how its really important to battle the stigma against mental health and how the simplest things such as talking to someone about it, can really improve and make a difference. Reading peoples opinions of their mental health issues and how they choose not to let it affect their education, really helps them in keeping a positive mind set.

ARTICLES ON MENTAL HEALTH WITHIN COLLEGES

http://uk.businessinsider.com/anxiety-is-the-biggest-mental-health-problem-facing-college-students-2015-6?r=US&IR=T

ANALYSIS 3This article is from ‘The Times’ which is an actual newspaper, and it outlines that anxiety is now the number one health problem amongst colleges, and more than half of 100,000 students who were seeking help for their mental illness said that anxiety was the issue. It then goes onto to some statistics that the number of students dealing with mental health issues has spiked in recent years and nearly half of the college students seeking counselling had serious mental illnesses.The final screenshot shows more statistics stating that 7% more students from 2000 seeking mental health help in college were on psychiatric medication.

FINAL ANALYSISThe codes and conventions can be applied to articles as they include a lot too, such as:StatisticsExpert opinionsFactual information Point of views (the blogs)Subjects

INITIAL DOCUMENTARY IDEASFor our documentary we will be including:Statistics of the levels of mental health and if they have changed (%)Factual information so its true and reliable for our audienceExpert opinions/interviews (mental health nurses and psychology experts)Footage, including archival to support our pointVox pops for subjects opinions and their point of view on mental health and how college

deals with itGeneral dialogue & interviews between interviewer and subjectsRepresentations to re-tell mental health informationVoice over to re-tell statistics Observations/mise en scene/actuality of students in an everyday settingMusic and sound effects to keep the audience interestedCutaways, inserts and a good pace to also keep audience alert

REFLECTIONOverall I’ve learnt a lot about mental health with in colleges and how they aim to help students, by talking to them and giving them therapy for it, I found from all 3 articles that the main issue is mainly anxiety and that it can be caused by relationships between family, friends and boyfriends/girlfriends and also the work load which leads to the student not knowing how to cope and just in in general feeling really low. For our documentary we should incorporate this factual information as it’s a representation of the real and its more reliable for our audience of teens/young adults, we are going to include ways in which help is available, statistics of how mental illnesses have risen over recent years, expert opinions and interviews and also vox pops of students themselves. We initially want to tell our audience that mental health is a bigger issue than what they might think it actually is, and that it is something that should be mentioned more often as it is a really important topic, and not only that, but to encourage them to speak out about it, to a friend, family member or teacher and to reassure them that it is not something that cant be helped.