Overview
Calling educators of all grade levels and subject areas!
· Do you want to better understand racism and how it plays out in educational settings?
· Are you concerned that racism is affecting your students’ mental health, but unsure how to help?
· Are you looking for creative ideas and solutions to make a difference in your classroom?
This virtual presentation will answer all of these questions (and more) as you head into the new academic year.
Led by Lynette Sheard of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey, this session will feature performances by the NJ Mental Health Players (NJMHP). You’ll get facts and data from a trained mental health professional, followed by role-plays to show you real-life scenarios and challenges faced by students and teachers alike. Then, we’ll discuss as a group, raising questions and generating solutions together.
We’ll cover a wide range of hot topics pertaining to racism and its impact on mental health, including cognitive dissonance in relation to critical race theory, cancel culture and its implications, opposing views between teachers, deconstructing bias, safe spaces for creative concentration, and strategies for improving communication.
This webinar will be recorded and shared with all registered participants.
Presenter:
Lynette Sheard
The NJ Mental Health Players (NJMHP) is the longest-running community education program of its type in New Jersey. The mission of the NJMHP players is to increase education and awareness, decrease stigma and break the silence often associated with mental health. The Players are volunteers throughout the state of New Jersey. These volunteers are culturally diverse and include teens, adults, and seniors. Fifty percent of the volunteers have a disclosed mental illness and empathize with the challenging gauntlet in seeking support. The NJMHP program combines performance art and advocacy. Since the COVID 19 pandemic, we have transitioned our live performances to a virtual platform using ZOOM. We have incorporated and advanced scripts demonstrating how the current world issues impact our emotional wellbeing. Our virtual performance is 45 minutes and mimics the live show with a few newly added features. There is music, videos, live chat, polling, and a curtain call. The flow of performance consists of a trained mental health professional as a moderator who shares facts, data, and information followed by a scenario performed by the players, then a talkback with the players, who remain in character soliciting interactive engagement, discussion, and collective solutions from the audience. The performance ends with the moderator framing the discussion and providing additional information, resources, links, and contact info. Our program will continue to evolve, transform, and modify based on the most current CDC guidelines for safe interaction during the pandemic. Our audience includes community and corporate conferences, non-profit, seminars, elementary, high school, colleges/universities, social service agencies, hospitals, state, and federal agencies. For virtual bookings and information contact the Director -Lynette Sheard @ mentalhealthplayers@mhanj.org or call 973-571-4100 ext.104
Topics include but are not exclusive to:
Mental illness, Stigma, Racism, Grief, Isolation, Bullying, COVID 19, Virtual Learning, Coping Skills, Suicide Prevention, Addiction and Recovery, Caregivers, LGBTQ+, and much more- Just ask.