A film screening and panel to challenge the cultural understanding of “mental illness” with a critical look at America’s broken mental health care system and a message of recovery.
The reception for this event begins at 6 PM, and the film starts at 6:30, followed by a panel organized by the Empowerment Exchange.
Healing Voices is presented by: The Mental Health Empowerment Project, a section of the Empowerment Exchange. After the screening there will be a panel discussion featuring members of the production.
The Empowerment Exchange is a peer support program that offers people throughout Rensselaer County strategies and encouragement to use their personal power and to find their own unique voice. As peers who have used mental health services themselves, they know firsthand about the day to day struggles, but they also know about the successes. As a group, the Exchange celebrates the many different ways to wellness, and how spirits and passions are rekindled when you follow your own path.
Sarah Felman: Sarah works as a peer support mentor at the Mental Health Empowerment Project and facilitates the Hearing Voices peer support groups at the Empowerment Exchange in Troy, New York. When Sarah is not doing peer support, she is typically on the back of a horse as an avid equestrian.
Oryx Cohen: Oryx Cohen is the Chief Operating Officer of the National Empowerment Center. Oryx is a board member of the Hearing Voices Network USA and Empatiko, and an Emotional CPR trainer. Oryx co-produced and is a subject in the award-winning social action documentary HEALING VOICES, which was released in April 2016. Oryx lives with his wife and two children in Massachusetts.
Dan Sullivan: Scientist. Athlete. Professor. Hello, I’m Dan Sullivan and I’m none of these things. I do have long winded conversations with a seven foot tall ant creature, hear voices, and have a pretty decent sense of humor.