“We don’t talk about what’s going on in our head.” But “Hiding in Plain Sight” does all those things. “We don’t talk about feelings, we don’t talk about struggles,” says Makalynn, now 27, an African American woman with bipolar disorder and addiction issues. In addition to her work, she is involved with local harm reduction groups and loves yoga, fishing and spending time with her dog. ![]() “We don’t talk about what’s going on in our head,” says Makalynn Powell, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in criminal justice. Kudos to the pair, who clearly built trust and empathy as they interviewed a diverse group of young people from across the country with a wide range of diagnoses who spoke openly and shared intimate, uncomfortable accounts about their mental health. Erik Ewers mentions that mental health is something he’s dealt with for much of his life. “Hiding in Plain Sight” resonates with these creatives: Burns has talked about how his grief over the early death of his mother and how it affected his life and filmmaking in an interview the Ewers nod to mental health issues in their family. Erik has served as Burns’ editor for 30 years and his brother Christopher is a veteran director of photography. This Ken Burns Presents documentary is directed and co-produced by filmmakers Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers. Healing can happen –the courageous souls in this film are proof of that – but, as the documentary also makes clear, the journey to wellness takes resources and patience, evolving over time but rarely moving in a straight line to a Hollywood-style happy ending. Murthy warned of a “devastating” mental health crisis among adolescents. ![]() In December, in a rare public health advisory, the United States Surgeon General Vivek H. It’s also an everyday tragedy playing out all over America right now. As narrator Peter Coyote notes, mental illness is as pervasive as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, but it often exists in secret and is endured in isolation. And – viewer advisory – it’s a lot: sadness, grief, anger, fear, frustration, confusion, loneliness, loss. Watching “Hiding in Plain Sight” is an educational exercise in listening and learning. The message: Your experience is unique, but you are not alone. (Credit:Credit/DKC PR).Ĭalmly, quietly, from their bedrooms and living rooms, these youth recount the details of their most private adversities in what feels like a giant PSA for their peers – and their parents, grandparents, teachers and anyone else who cares about the mental health of young people. ![]() While caring for a one-year-old, with another child on the way, she is working to create indigenous change and healing. Alexis Davis is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and has a bachelor’s degree in Ojibwe language, culure and history. The overwhelming emotions she experienced as a teen – she battled depression and suicidal thoughts – spiraled until she “exploded.” Alexis says members of her generation feel a duty to change the script around mental illness. ![]() But if she can help just two teens battling with mental illness, she says, then sharing the bleakest days of her life with millions will have been worth it.Īlexis, a 21-year-old member of the Chippewa Nation, grew up in a “beautiful culture” on a tribal reservation, but she was also surrounded by intergenerational trauma, substance use disorder, poverty and racism. In an interview the soft-spoken Morgan, whose troubles began around age 14, says she is nervous about telling her story. Now 26, Morgan and more than 20 other young Americans reveal their struggles with mental illness in heart-wrenching detail in “ Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness,” a new two-part documentary from the Ken Burns filmmaking crew. She once threw herself in front of a car in despair. As an adolescent, she struggled with depression, addiction, self-harm and suicidal ideation. On the surface, Morgan seems like the stereotypical All-American Girl: popular in high school, a homecoming queen who dated the star football player and brought home good grades.
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