Upcoming Events
What Story Will You Tell? – Four Virtual Writing Mini Retreats for Women led by Xandra O’Neill and Ruth Clark
Every time we sit down to write, we sit down to tell a story. In these writing retreats, we will explore different ways of deciding what story to tell, and how to tell it. Each retreat works as a standalone, and if you join us for more than one, you will find that there are threads that weave them all together.
August 21, 2021
November 20, 2021





Past Events
November 13 – 15, 2020 – Women Writers’ Retreat – We are gathering online for a weekend of creativity and community building.
November 19, 2020 – Live Screening on YouTube – Living with Depression Short Films – we are pleased to present four original short films featuring individuals who have experienced depression and mental health recovery. Join us live for the viewing and talkback following the films.
April 1, 2020 – A Beautiful Day Tomorrow: Taking Suicide Awareness On The Road – Online film screening and talk back with Renew Theaters, sponsored by Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital.
October 12, 2019 – Push to Publish Conference – 9am-5pm at Rosemont College, Rosemont, PA. Whether you are an established writer or just getting started, this one-day writer’s conference will provide valuable resources you can use to get your work in print and online. This event is sponsored by OC87 Recovery Diaries and will feature Editor-in-Chief Gabriel Nathan, who will be serving as a speed date editor.
June 7, 2019 – Screening at Elgin Mental Health Center – OC87 Recovery Diaries short mental health documentary films will be shown at the Elgin Mental Health Center in Elgin, Illinois, to patients and staff in the civil and forensic units. Editor in Chief Gabriel Nathan will give a talk on the motivation behind OC87 Recovery Diaries’ films and his own experience working in a psychiatric hospital. This event is being sponsored through the Elgin Mental Health Center’s activities fund.
May 2019 – Herbie The Love Bug Suicide Awareness Film Road Trip – with Gabriel Nathan
May 18, 2019 – Stride for Mental Health – with NAMI Bucks County
May 4 & 5, 2019 – Ellipses Ensemble: Concert for First Responders – May 4, 2019 at The Penn Wynne Library in Wynnewood, PA at 11am and May 5, 2019 at Ethical Society in Philadelphia, PA at 7:30pm. Free, suggested donation to Prevent Suicide PA or Ellipses.
May 4, 2019 – Embracing the Power of Mental Health Storytelling – 7pm, free short film screening at Haverford Area YMCA, sponsored by Trent Stetler Memorial Fund.
Women Writers’ Retreat – In March 2019, over 50 women gathered in Cape May, NJ for a weekend of creativity and community building, sponsored by OC87 Recovery Diaries.
WHYY Television Screening – Our hour-long OC87 Recovery Diaries mental health documentary film was screened on WHYY, Philadelphia’s PBS station in 2018, and there was a screening event held at WHYY Studios where director Glenn Holsten, EIC Gabriel Nathan, and film subjects Mike Veny and Stephanie Sikora talked about their experience making these mental health films.
Reel Minds Film Series – For several years, OC87 Recovery Diaries short-subject documentary films have been screened at the Reel Minds Film Series in Rochester, New York. In 2018, for a screening of the uplifting short “Gabe & Herbie”, EIC Gabriel Nathan drove his 1963 Herbie the Love Bug tribute car over 700 miles round-trip to have Herbie present at the screening. Gabe’s Herbie promotes awareness of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by displaying the Lifeline’s number on its rear window, and was seen by thousands of motorists on his way to and from the screening.
Ellipses Ensemble – A unique chamber music ensemble co-founded by OC87 Recovery Diaries Editor in Chief Gabriel Nathan and Philadelphia flutist, professor, and entrepreneur Susanna Loewy, the Ellipses Ensemble aims to find the intersection between music and mental health. Each concert event focuses on a different mental health-related theme and short-subject OC87 Recovery Diaries films are shown in conjunction with live mental health storytelling.
Ambler Theatre Screening – A screening event of OC87 Recovery Diaries‘ one-hour documentary was held at the Ambler Movie Theatre, sponsored by Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, which covered the cost of admission and refreshments for all attendees.
NAMI National – OC87 Recovery Diaries was a premier exhibitor at NAMI National in Washington, DC in 2017.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Philly Out of the Darkness Walk – OC87 Recovery Diaries had a resource booth at the 2017 AFSP OOTD Suicide Awareness Walk in 2017.
Hollywood Beauty Salon – OC87 Recovery Diaries has sponsored and hosted a series of screenings of the documentary film by Glenn Holsten.