San José State University - WFW - 4.24.24 - Presentation.pdf

Updated slides for Wisdom From Within workshop at SJSU, 4.24.24

1. Wisdom
From
Within
Exploring Mental Health
Through Images and Words
Please
sign in!

2. Meet your facilitators
Cary McQueen
(she/her)
●Founder and Executive
Director of Art With Impact
●Mental wellness enthusiast
●Mama, Partner, Friend,
Daughter, Sister
Jules Plumadore
(he/they)
●AWI Workshop Specialist
●Mental health advocate
and facilitator
●Lives in Oakland with
partner and a little dog
named Arvo

3. Brought to you by…
●Art: Short films!
○Production grants
○Free film library
●Impact:
○Campus workshops
○Film Festival

4. Here’s the plan
1.Define our terms
2.Practice expression through imagery
3.Practice expression through words
4.Panel
5.Evaluation

5. Heads up
●Mental health is personal –YOU are the expert on your
own experience
●This is a public, shared space
●We will be taking some photos -please let us know if you
are not comfortable with this!
●Please take care of yourself and others however you
need, including asking for help!

6. How are you doing today?
Horrible
So pumped it’s not even funny

7. How do people talk about mental
health in your communities?
●On college campuses it’s a lot, but not so much at home
●Talking more between siblings, but not parents
●East Asian communities: as if it’s not a thing, it must be
something else (sleep, nutrition, etc.)
●Growing up, it was “suck it up, buttercup”, but as time goes on,
even older siblings are recognizing the importance of mental
health

8. What is stigma?
A judgment or stereotype that is:
●Always negative
●Always untrue
●Can be internalized

9. Mind Matters
By Seyi Akinlade and Josef Adamu
AWI Winner, November 2019
CONTENT HEADS UP
Depression, stigma, alcohol use

10. IN PAIRS...
What did you think?
How did you feel?

11. Share with us:
What did you think? How did you feel?
●Different ways of dealing with pain & suffering -in silence or with
others
●Fight or flight -anxiety is different today than in previous centuries
because we’re under constantly stress (doomscrolling, etc.)
●Alcohol can make depression worse
●Wave/water images -he’s trying to tread water and drowning. It’s OK
to talk to somebody. You don’t have to be alone.
●Parents may love their children more than their own lives, but don’t
always validate their struggles or suffering. Powerful healing in the
moment when the friend shows up.

12. What makes it difficult to reach out for help?
●We don’t want to burden someone with our problems, and they may
not understand
●Generationally, it becomes a game of who has the bigger issue -“My
hill’s bigger than yours”
●Concern about judgment -thinking if we open up to someone, they’ll
look on us poorly for what we’re struggling with
●If you reach out for help, it can disturb your normal schedule (work,
school, etc.) -when are resources even available?
●What does “seeking help” even mean? Even that can have its own
stigma (tissues all over the floor, etc.) -not necessarily what I want to
do
●People don’t want to sit in those feelings -if they ask for help, they’ll
have to. Plus it can take months to get an appointment, which can feel
defeating.

13. We all have mental health

14. mental illness
mental wellness
We all have mental health

15. We all have a Wise Mind
Wise Mind Thinking MindFeeling Mind

16. ●Life is complicated.
●The best way to navigate changes is not
always obvious.
●Cultivating our “wise mind” can help us see
more clearly.
Our Premise for Today

17. Today’s Objective
Practice two tools of expression that can help us
identify what our wise mind is telling us right now.
When there are no wordsWhen there are too many words

18. Out Beyond
By Salman Alam Khan
Voices With Impact 2023

19. IN PAIRS...
How did you connect with this film?

20. Share with us:
How did you connect with this film?
●“Guilty pleasures” -books are my escape, allows me to be someone
else for awhile but also come back. Can be good but also detrimental.
●I felt supported in my passions growing; I was less connected, more
interested in what I would be like if I hadn’t had that support.
●I loved playing piano as a kid -wasn’t supported by parents but was
still a safe space
●Why was he so anxious about what he was doing? Why couldn’t he
just play the drums?

21. Photo Exercise -Step 1
Take a lot of different pictures
in our immediate area.
Find images that YOU connect
with, right now.
Try putting the camera (phone)
●Really close
●Really high
●Really low
Try making images that are:
●Abstract (like light)
●Emotional (blurry? colorful?)
Ideas

22. Photo Exercise -Step 2
A) B)
1.Look through the images
that connected with you
today
1.Select an image to share
1.Write in your packet what
connects you with that
picture.
1.Share ONEphoto to our
Google Album by scanning
the QR code to the right and
choosing “select photos”

23. Slideshow

24. How did you feel?
What did you think?
●Initially, I felt very connected/grounded with the environment,
then I started interacting with people and felt connected with
them.
●Reminded me of being younger -I used to video a lot of my
life in high school & remember creating a lot of comedic films
and ones about things I wouldn’t usually notice. I had to let
go of a lot of my creativity to pursue this commission.
●I don’t take pictures, so this was like throwing with my
opposite hand. It was cool to know I have an opposite hand.
●I take a lot of photos when I go on vacation, so I was
reflecting on those while taking these pictures.

25. Let’s try another way to hear
our wisdom from within

26. Immerse
Explore (2 of 2)
Express

27. Writing Exercise: Immerse, Explore, Express
As a group, we will immerseourselves in a short film from our
OLIVE Film Collection.
Together, we will explorethe themes brought up in the film
through discussion.
Individually, we will expressour thoughts and feelings
through writing exercises to create poetryas a response.

28. poetry
For this exercise we’ll define poetry as a
condensed expression of your thoughts and
feelings.
Anything you put to paper with intention can be
poetry.

29. Immerse
Explore
Express

30. Fortune Cookie
By Fu Yang
AWI Winner, April 2023
CONTENT HEADS UP
Burnout

31. In pairs...
What’s coming up?
You are invited to share a few words to describe how you’re
feeling, or your thoughts on the film.

32. Share with us:
What came up for you?
●Symbolized growing expectations and demands in life -once you
sacrifice yourself to one person it can spread to others
●The monster was never satisfied
●Sadness as the main character gives the last piece -when we feed
the inner critic, it grows stronger
●First reaction: Confused in initial encounter before giving up a piece of
himself
●Sometimes you give so much of yourself -it can be easier to help
others than to help yourself. Gives so much of himself that he has to
regrow.
●From the monster’s perspective -you get a taste of something good
and want more and more, and end up killing the good thing

33. Immerse
Explore (1 of 2)
Express

34. What’s eating away at me?

35. Where could I be?

36. Self Reflection
How did that feel?
Did you write anything that
surprised you?

37. Immerse
Explore
Express

38. Find the Sculpture
The Road Ahead

39. Let’s share!
Please detach page 5 from your packet,
fold it in half, and send it to the front
Please write “don’t share” on the top if you don’t
want your work read out loud, anonymously

40. Round of applause for our panel!
panel

41. Meet the panel
Guillermo Luna (he/him)
Student Speaker
Quinten Moshy (he/him)
Student Speaker
David Emmert (he/him)
Counselor Faculty/Psychologist
Campus Resource Panelist
James Howard (he/him)
Veteran Outreach Specialist
Community Resource Panelist

42. Q&A and Reflections
Ask a question or share a thought!
You can raise your hand or fill out an index card and
submit a question or comment anonymously.

43. Please fill out our survey!
https://bit.ly/wfw-sjsu-survey
Your feedback on today’s experience is so valuable to us and to others -
please help us improve and better serve other student veterans.
As our thanks for completing the survey, you’ll have the option to enter a
prize draw for $25 and receive a free 3-month subscription to the Ten
Percent Happier mindfulness app.

44. Stay in touch!
We’d love to have you join our community
for updates and information.
Website: artwithimpact.org
Cary:[email protected]
Jules: [email protected]