Mental Health Short Films - OC87 Recovery Diaries

We share mental health short films depicting stories of recovery, empowerment, and change, by and for those with mental health challenges.

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OC87 Recovery Diaries is an interactive website that features stories of mental health, empowerment, and change, created by and for those whose journeys of recovery speak to audiences from all walks of life. As we share mental health short films, we hope to touch as many lives as possible and bring light to the lived experiences of recovery from mental illness: what matters, what helps, what’s hard, what might be next?

We publish a new mental health recovery story each week.

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OC87 Recovery Diaries exists to tell stories about how people with mental health challenges have created paths to meaningful lives. We feature mental health short films that inspire and empower, stories that generate discussion and awareness. OC87 Recovery Diaries presents a range of experiences — personal perspectives, recovery innovations, examples of empowerment, strengths and gaps in the mental health system, and efforts to dismantle stigma — all told by people moving through their own recovery journeys.

Our hour-long documentary film, OC87 Recovery Diaries, has been featured on PBS.

Check for upcoming screenings events or sponsor a screening »

First Responder Mental Health: When the Helpers Need Help, Who You Gonna Call?

First Responder Mental Health: When the Helpers Need Help, Who You Gonna Call?

Michelle Monzo is a hero’s hero. Her work is her passion, and her passion is her work. She is trains police and other criminal justice and public safety personnel in mental health crisis intervention techniques. in addition to her crisis intervention education efforts, she creates safe spaces for first responders to be vulnerable when they are feeling they need mental health support.

Can a Man (and a Bug) Drive Out Suicide?

Can a Man (and a Bug) Drive Out Suicide?

OC87 Recovery Diaries’ Editor in Chief Gabriel Nathan travels around the east coast in his beloved Herbie the Love Bug replica to raise suicide awareness and meet people whose lives have been changed by suicide.

Sailing for Life and Surviving PTSD

Sailing for Life and Surviving PTSD

Hell or High Seas follows veteran Navy rescue swimmer Taylor Greiger and friend Stephen O’Shea on the sailing adventure of a lifetime to prove that Taylor is stronger than his PTSD diagnosis.

Physician Mental Health & Suicide

Physician Mental Health & Suicide

by https://youtu.be/7qBobGOF0fs Doctors are the healers and the helpers. But what happens when it’s the doctors who need the healing and the help? An estimated 300 to 400 doctors die by suicide each year, a rate of 28 to 40...

How to be an Active Listener

How to be an Active Listener

A rising number of college students are seeking treatment at campus counseling centers for serious mental health challenges. Our video features the powerful listeners from Cogwell@Penn. Watch (and learn) how they skillfully role-play as active listeners when presented with a variety of stories from friends in need.

Unforgotten – Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital

Unforgotten – Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital

A few months ago, I saw a photo on Facebook of a cemetery in Marlboro, New Jersey. The cemetery was on the grounds where the Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital once stood, and was the place where people who were once residents of the hospital were laid to rest.

Cumulative PTSD for a Police Officer After 9/11

Cumulative PTSD for a Police Officer After 9/11

This video features Officer Ron Griffith, formerly of the NYPD. After 9/11, Ron’s personality shifted. He became a controlling, angry person. He says he wasn’t aware of this change until his family left him, and all he was left with cumulative PTSD.

A Hero’s Life

A Hero’s Life

Lost to paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Ed was in limbo for 30 years before finding the right medication and community to heal and play music.

Torrey Pines

Torrey Pines

Interview with Clyde Petersen about Torrey Pines, a stop-motion animated adventure film about coming of age with an undiagnosed schizophrenic single mother.

Message To The World

Message To The World

A short video with a simple question: What is your message to the world? It’s a big question, but very few people appeared at a loss for words.

Meet Monica (Again) – Mental Health & Chosen Family

A Journey Within

Monica, a young transwoman, talks about her experience with mental health challenges, homelessness, and finding her chosen family at The Attic Youth Center.

Delaney Ruston

Delaney Ruston

Interview with Delaney Ruston about her documentary Hidden Pictures, where she visits India, China, South Africa, France & the USA looking at mental health.

The Reel Mind

The Reel Mind

“The Reel Mind films have a message of hope and recovery. People come in feeling alone and isolated and leave feeling very differently” –Dr Larry Guttmacher

Sprout Film Festival

Sprout Film Festival

Anthony Di Salvo talks about Sprout Film Festival, vacations for people with developmental disabilities, and Sproutflix, a new movies on demand platform.

2014 Roundup

2014 Roundup

A roadmap of festivals for filmmakers and film lovers alike that encourage film submissions surrounding ideas of mental health and recovery,

Of Two Minds

Of Two Minds

In OF TWO MINDS, Liz recounts her lost years of extreme mania and depressions as well as the effects of electroshock treatments.

Michael Solomon

Michael Solomon

Michael Solomon is married, assumes responsibilities, and helps others in their own recovery journeys. He has a lot of empathy for people, too.