The Wellness Center, in collaboration with the Student Athlete Advisory Committees’ Morgan’s Message chapter, hosted a viewing of an excerpt from the two-part documentary “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness” (2022) directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers. The documentary is part of Ken Burns Presents. Junior Molly Edmark is a head representative from Morgan’s Message who collaborated with the Wellness Center to show this documentary. Edmark said she thought it would be a good way to introduce the organization to the KSC community.
While Morgan’s Message works to end the stigma around mental health in the student athlete community, and the documentary might not directly show specific athletes, Edmark said, “I’m sure that they’ve had that look in before, so to make sure that our group of athletes was supported and recognized in something like this I think is important for us.”
Edmark added that it was important to her to be there whether or not she had her connections to Morgan’s Message or the Wellness Center, even if she may not struggle with mental health.
“I want to make it known that you don’t have to struggle with mental health in order to be an advocate for it, in order to be a part of the conversation you can be a listening ear,” Edmark said. Junior Emma Cahoon, also a representative from Morgan’s Message, shared that, as being someone who has struggled with mental health and played a sport, “This was definitely a moving documentary to watch. I definitely got emotional a few times because I knew what it was like.”
She continued, “I’m glad that there were other athletes here to see it.”
With Ken Burns’ production studio located in Walpole, N.H., Cahoon said it localizes the film to the KSC community. “It’s a cool connection to the community and a great program we get to have,” Cahoon said. Tiffany Mathews, coordinator of wellness education, said she was able to get ahold of the excerpt from her connections with the Ken Burns production studio. She said the documentary was a combination of first person accounts of people from the ages of 11-27 who struggle with various mental health issues, along with interviews from their mental health professionals, teachers, parents and friends.
“It was really an opportunity to collaborate on an awareness event to raise awareness about mental health and hopefully encourage students, faculty and staff to come out,” said Mathews. Mathews provided resources that the Wellness Center offers to the KSC community. She said that students can find this information on the Wellness Center website. She encouraged students to add their 24/7 crisis hotline as well so that students always have it just in case they or a friend need it.
Mathews added that along with showing “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness,” they provided a pamphlet booklet that adds other information and resources about mental health. Mathews said she plans to share that information with the Wellness Center and that it can be helpful for improving their services and education on wellness.
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
