Authors: Mental Illness Education ACT
Event: 2011 TheMHS Awards
Type of resource: TheMHS Awards
Award state: ACT
Award level: Finalist
Award category: Mental Health Promotion or Mental Illness Prevention Program or Project
Abstract: Moving Minds is a collection of thirteen digital stories – short films – made by people living with mental illness. They extend the work of Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT) to reduce stigma and discrimination towards people living with mental illness, increase mental health literacy, promote early intervention and to emphasise recovery. Personal stories of living with mental illness reach a new, bolder and broader dimension through publication as digital media on the internet (www.mieact.org.au). Moving Minds was developed in a mental health promotion framework, and its creative process reflects best possible practice in community development. The collection provides an outstanding new electronic resource for mental health promotion, with over two thousand web viewings since its launch in May 2010. Also published as a DVD, the collection is being used by mental health services, the tertiary education sector, and the community sector. The project won an ACT Health Promotion Award in November 2010. Description of Facility/Organisation: The mission of Mental Illness Education ACT (MIEACT) is to reduce stigma towards people living with mental illness, promote mental health literacy and encourage people to get help early for mental illness. Its approach to this work is unique. The community-based organisation trains and supports people who live with mental illness, or who care for someone with mental illness, to speak publicly about their personal experience. MIEACT’s work in schools was evaluated in 2003 by Professor Debra Rickwood of the University of Canberra and found to have a positive effect in reducing stigma towards people with mental illness and improving mental health literacy. The work has also been found to have a positive impact on the recovery of Volunteer Educators. MIEACT is recognized by the ACT Government as a key organization for mental health promotion in the ACT, and has also won numerous awards over its 17 year history (see www.mieact.org.au)
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