A video project rooted in the Pikes Peak region is offering residents a rare public platform to speak candidly about their mental health experiences, with creators saying they hope the footage will connect with people who would otherwise suffer in silence.
The StoryTeller Project brings together the Teller County Mental Health Alliance, Ashlee Shields, and Joseph Marney, and is designed to reach community members who feel a social stigma around asking for help. Participants recount experiences ranging from domestic abuse and suicide attempts to postpartum depression and feelings of abandonment, with footage recorded at locations meaningful to each speaker.
Marney, who handles filming and editing, said that academic literature on depression and loss lands differently than hearing comparable experiences from recognizable neighbors: "There is all this research about people going through depression or loss but it's a whole lot different than hearing the same stories from people in our community, seeing faces you recognize." As the work progressed, Shields and Marney came to believe that stigma is also bound up in how few outlets people have to speak openly about what they have endured.
Each subject chooses the setting for their interview. "It's important to us that we give them space where they feel comfortable; it could be out in the forest, or in their living room, wherever," said Shields, who serves as transformation manager for the mental health alliance. For many participants, the recording session marks the first occasion they have spoken about their experience at all, and all eight of the original storytellers encouraged viewers to seek help, hoping their candor would reach those who feel alone.
The individual accounts are wide-ranging and frank. One segment features a woman who describes postpartum depression and a suicide attempt; recognizing how serious her situation had become, she entrusted her children to her parents for a year while she pursued treatment, including a stay at Cedar Springs psychiatric hospital in Colorado Springs and a subsequent divorce, and she now describes those steps as integral to her recovery. Another segment features a veteran who recounts being raised to suppress his emotions entirely.
After one participant shared the video with her mother, Shields said the woman reported that it marked the first time her mother had ever told her she was proud of her. Shields has reflected on what she sees as a broader cultural shift: "We've lost the art of storytelling. Generationally, we're not sitting down with our grandparents anymore and listening to their stories."
A survivor featured in the film, along with other participants who have faced mental health challenges within their families, is set to speak at the Suicide Awareness and Resiliency Symposium on Sept. 19. Shields noted that for those speakers, appearing before an audience will be an entirely new experience. Shields and Marney intend to keep the project going, with Marney saying additional in-person storytelling events are planned as it grows; the current video is available at https://youtube.com/@ourstorytellerco.
How the Sept. 19 symposium will be received, and whether the project will bring on storytellers beyond its founding eight participants, remain open questions.