Portraying mental health on stage and screen

November 7 2007

Hunter New England Health staff have developed a resource that will shape the way mental health and suicide is portrayed in our country’s film, television and media industries.

Under the Australian government’s Mindframe Initiative, the Hunter Institute of Mental Health, a division of Hunter New England Health, has created a guide to developing genuine and authentic characters with mental illness on stage and screen. 

Hunter Institute of Mental Health Mindframe Program Manager Jaelea Skehan said developing the resource was a collaborative effort involving some of the country’s best scriptwriters.

“We developed this resource through a relationship with the Australian Writers’ Guild and some of the best scriptwriters in the country,” Ms Skehan said.

“Scriptwriters know how to create characters better than anyone and we used writers from some of Australia’s top television dramas including Blue Heelers, All Saints, Home and Away and Neighbours to formulate something that will genuinely help the entertainment industry,” she said.

The booklet and online content developed by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health was recently launched to the sector at the National Screen Writers Conference in Victoria. 

Ms Skehan said the resources are being received well by the industry and the Hunter Institute of Mental Health will continue to develop relationships with key industry representatives.

“We have had good feedback in the short time the resources have been made available,” Ms Skehan said.

“We organised a workshop in Melbourne and Sydney where we met with in-house writers from the top television dramas in the country including Neighbours and All Saints.

“The entertainment industry plays such an important role in shaping the public’s perception of mental illness and suicide, if we can get writers and producers on the right track we could go a long way towards eliminating popular stereotypes and stigma,” Ms Skehan said.

To visit the online Mindframe resource for the entertainment and media industries visit http://www.mindframe-media.info/

Contact: Nicholas Hansen

Phone: 49214918