Giving Mental Health Stories "The Red Carpet Treatment" - OC87 Recovery Diaries

Giving Mental Health Stories “The Red Carpet Treatment”

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OC87 Recovery Diaries had a very organic start. The website has its roots in the feature film. OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie, a feature length documentary that documents Bud Clayman’s journey of recovery. The film had its theatrical debut in 2010. Immediately, audiences were engaged and excited by this entertaining and sincerely heartfelt story of recovery.

At the conclusion of one of our first screenings, an audience member, who was moved by Bud’s journey and was equally impressed with the quality of the visuals and the storytelling, stood up and declared, “You gave my story the red carpet treatment!” He identified with many of Bud’s struggles depicted in the film and had never seen this kind of experience treated with such sensitivity and understanding.

This was not an anomaly. Post screening Q&A sessions would inevitably end with audience members sharing their own journeys — testifying, if you will, after being impacted by Bud Clayman’s brave and honest storytelling. Rather than have these individual stories disappear into the ether, we decided to create a space on line for them to live and began sharing them with the world.

oc87recoverydiaries.org was born.

Now, seven years later, we are still giving stories “the red carpet treatment,” exploring storytelling in a variety of forms and styles. Highlighting the work of brave, honest, and vulnerable storytellers.

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To that end, we’re happy to share our video manifesto, a statement about who we are in all of our fullness. This video explores the richness of the site and the diverse ways we share stories of hope and recovery. The narration was written by Editor in Chief Gabriel Nathan, and is voiced by the OC87 Recovery Diaries production team.

I hope you enjoy it, share it, and stay connected with us as we continue to stretch and grow.

#BustStigma with a tax deductible donation now.

See Related Recovery Stories: Mental Health Short Films

Glenn is an award-winning director who loves to create compelling documentary story experiences of all lengths for screens of all sizes. He is an avid reader, studied literature in college, and his passion for stories with strong characters and interesting narratives stems from those years. His career as a visual storyteller began at WHYY (the public television station in Philadelphia) where he worked for 15 years before becoming an independent filmmaker. In addition to his PBS documentaries about arts and culture, he has directed films about justice and human rights, and now, mental health. He was emboldened to undertake his current documentary project, Hollywood Beauty Salon, a colorful feature-length documentary about surviving mental illness and finding the courage for recovery, after his transformative experience directing OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie, along with Bud Clayman and Scott Johnston.