recap by Genevieve Harvey, age 13<\/p>\n
Many people feel uncomfortable talking about the issue of mental illness, and thinking about how they can deal with it or how they would react when hearing someone\u2019s story. The Teen Advisory Board has tackled that phobia by showcasing a movie and discussion every month relating to mental illness. The time allows the participants to either share their experiences or just talk about how well they think the movie portrayed mental illness. <\/span><\/p>\n This month\u2019s movie, <\/span>The Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/span><\/i>, starts off by showing Charlie on his first day of highschool. Charlie is a boy who lost his friend to suicide the previous year, writes to an anonymous person about how his life is going, and recently had a mental breakdown because of the injustices that affect good people, who he believes don\u2019t deserve it, while he just sits and watches. Charlie tends to be alone, has no friends, and instead wants to watch people live their lives instead of living his own. <\/span><\/p>\n In his first class, an eccentric and outgoing senior named Patrick shows an impersonation of the wood class instructor. He gets scorned for doing so, but his reason for acting up is so that the freshmen can feel welcomed and acquainted with the school. Charlie appreciates how he cares about the freshmen and starts to admire how nonchalant Patrick\u2019s personality is. Patrick is homosexual and struggles to keep his sexuality a secret while also protecting his boyfriend, who plays on the football team and whose parents are also unaware of his sexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n Patrick has a stepsister named Sam, who had been abused by many men who she thought loved her. Sam doesn\u2019t tell people her story unless she feels that the person is trustworthy enough. Charlie decides to sit with Sam and Patrick one day, which completely changes his life. He is accepted into this group of \u201cmisfit children\u201d that Sam and Patrick\u2019s friends, who have also witnessed injustices, are a part of. He helps Sam with her SAT and over time falls in love with her.<\/span><\/p>\n Symptoms of another mental breakdown occur as he realizes that the people who helped get him out of his shell will soon be going off to college. He cannot gain control of his mind, and is hospitalized. In the hospital, he uncovers the root of his problem: he was abused by his Aunt as a child, and because she died in a car crash while retrieving his birthday present, he blames himself for her death. He talks more about his problems, understands that life has its bumps in the road, and accepts that his friends will always be with him.<\/span><\/p>\n During the discussion, our participants were able to share personal experiences, connect with each other by asking very important questions, and contribute to the discussion in someway. As a group, we were able to see how realistic the movie was, and discuss how we could shift the view of mental illness from an \u201cundiscussable problem\u201d to a \u201cnetwork that helps to bring it to attention.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the end, I believe the movie was a great way to allow viewers to see how other people view the world, deal with the world, and how we can help to understand their perception of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" recap by Genevieve Harvey, age 13 Many people feel uncomfortable talking about the issue of mental illness, and thinking about how they can deal with it or how they would react when hearing someone\u2019s story. The Teen Advisory Board has tackled that phobia by showcasing a movie and discussion every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":3935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,121],"tags":[118,145],"class_list":["post-3934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-film-reviews","tag-mental-health","tag-teen-facilitated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/05\/51VnN-M3ljL._SY450_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-11s","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3640,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-january-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":0},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — January 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"January 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 1\/9\/2017 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Chris, Genevieve, Hadley, Jane L, Kara, KC, Laura, Lauren, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, Mckenna, Nina, Sophie Below are brief notes from our meeting. \u00a0 We talked about:\u00a0 Winter programs debrief (crafts, games, writing, movie, mugs) Selected summer reading graphics Will order more TAB\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/2017-01-tab-meeting-resize-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/2017-01-tab-meeting-resize-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/2017-01-tab-meeting-resize-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/2017-01-tab-meeting-resize-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3777,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-february-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":1},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — February 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"February 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 2\/6\/2017 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Brittany, Genevieve, Hadley, Haneen, Jane L, KC, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, Mckenna, Sophie Below are brief notes from our meeting. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Debrief - Let\u2019s Talk Politics WriteGirl Poetry Workshop Volunteer training \u00a0 Changes - Volunteer sign-in procedures Friends book sale volunteers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/tab_stateofyouth.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/tab_stateofyouth.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/tab_stateofyouth.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3654,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/its-kind-of-a-funny-story-movie-discussion\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":2},"title":"It’s Kind of a Funny Story — movie discussion","author":"Teen Blogger","date":"February 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"recap by Angel Gomez & Genevieve Harvey Even though we live in an age where we can access information almost instantly, sometimes it\u2019s hard to spread awareness of certain topics society views as \u201cproblems\u201d or \u201ccontroversial.\u201d An example of this is the topic of mental illnesses, mental health, and how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Film Reviews","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/teen-reviews\/film-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/02\/Jacket.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2905,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2016\/teen-advisory-board-may-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":3},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — May 2016","author":"Jane Gov","date":"May 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 5\/14\/2016 Present: Bella, Chris, Hadley,\u00a0Haneen, Jane L, Lauren, Madison, Maya, Meep Special guest: Ms. Deb Takahashi, Librarian from Santa Catalina & Linda Vista Branch Library Announcements & summer projects: Pasadena Loves YA: \u00a0Those of you who have volunteered to read & review this summer, I\u2019ll connect back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mentalhealthamerica.net\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/interior_page_banner\/public\/Internal%20page%20header.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3781,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-march-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":4},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — March 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen Advisory Board 3\/13\/2017 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Haneen, Bella, Jane L, Lauren, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, Mckenna, Nina, Sophie Below are brief notes from our meeting. Pre-meeting assignment Research the following topic: \u00a0Why are libraries essential to teens? Go through this research, and highlight parts that speak directly to you.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/TAB_2017-03.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3834,"url":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-april-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":3934,"position":5},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — April 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Pasadena Public Library, Teen Advisory Board, 4\/10\/2017 \u00a0 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Brittany, Genevieve, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, McKenna, Nina, Sophie \u00a0 Pre-meeting assignment: suggestions for Teen SRC prizes \u00a0 Agenda \u00a0 Debrief - (3 minutes each; 15 minutes) Breakin\u2019 News - Nina, Maya Teen Game Night - Jane G. 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