NH Filmmaker Explores Young Peoples’ Mental Health Lived Experiences

Production still of an interview with Sophie and, inset, the title screen. (Courtesy photo)

Jay Childs, owner of JBC Communications in Portsmouth, is no stranger to telling stories that capture the heaviness and the beauty of life. The award-winning filmmaker’s latest film, “We Can Fix This,” featuring former NH Supreme Court Justice John Broderick, dives into youth mental health with the goal of bringing the lived experiences of young peoples’ challenges to light.

Broderick, who is director of external affairs at Dartmouth Health, has been touring the state for over six years speaking with young people about mental health and telling his own story as part of Dartmouth’s REACT campaign, which addresses mental health challenges. Broderick, along with his wife Patti, were initially called to speak out publicly and to work toward addressing mental health, after their family experienced a nationally publicized personal mental health crisis involving one of their two adult sons in 2002.

“He is someone very open and willing to share his story,” Childs says. “And after he’s expressed his own vulnerability, many young people feel open to express their own.”

In May, Childs, along with his crew, was hired to do the videography and livestreaming for a speech Broderick gave at a TEDxPortsmouth event on youth mental health. The initial idea was to create a film that would accompany Broderick’s speech, but Childs and TEDxPortsmouth co-producer Kaarin Milne, also wanted to provide a tool kit for families, mental health service providers and schools that could engage them in conversations that could reduce stigma around mental health and allow the voices of more young people to be heard.

“In the process of doing the interviews, and talking with Kaarin, I realized there needed to be a life and u

se for this film beyond the TED talk,” Childs says. The campaign, which includes the film itself, is featured on a landing page that also includes a discussion guide and a feedback form anyone can use. “It can be a comprehensive tool for those already working to solve the problem and as a way to open up meaningful conversations. We want to strengthen the good work that’s already being done.”

Milne says she had the chance to hear Broderick’s story during a Leadership NH class. “It was inspirational and at the end of his speech he said, ‘I need your help.’ So I called him, and from there TEDx co-producer Anna Goldsmith and I hired him to speak,” she says.

Milne says what makes “We Can Fix This” different from many of the youth-focused mental health films is the emphasis on capturing authentic experiences of the young people interviewed. “The film allows the kids to respond to the same questions the mental health professionals had ahead of time and to then sit down and have a conversation,” she says. “They’re talking from lived experience.”

“Children and young adults are the experts on what they’re experiencing, and it was very important for us that [‘We Can Fix This’] places them on equal footing with the professionals,” says Childs (pictured), who was named NH Filmmaker of the Year in 2016 for his film “Food Fight: Inside the Battle for Market Basket.” His documentary film, “Communities & Consequences,” was honored as “Best NH Documentary” at the NH Film Festival. “When they know they’re heard, young people will open up,” he says.

The Bangor Savings Bank Foundation awarded JBC Communications a $3,500 grant to help extend the efforts of addressing mental health work for educators, parents and community leaders. Funds were used to develop a landing page, create an email list and a free discussion guide for the film.

Seacoast Mental Health is serving as JBC’s fiscal sponsor and reviewed the impact campaign pilot before it was sent out to more than 600 contacts in schools and mental health organizations.

“The film provides a guide to facilitate what can be a difficult conversation,” Childs says. “We see this as a first chapter, and Bangor Savings Bank has helped us get to the launch pad.” For more information, visit jbccom.com. To view the film, visit https://www.wecanfixthisnh.org/jbc.