Tag: mentalhealth
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The Fear of Coming Forward: A Never-Before-Seen Clip of Paper Birds
Honoring All Parts of the Journey A short never before seen excerpt from my documentary, Paper Birds! Thought I would share in honor of recently watching an updated cut from my editor. Just a few notes regarding colorgrading and I think that might be a wrap! A little interesting fact, which I’ll relay through a…
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Off to Raleigh for National Mental Health Conference
The Grand Premiere of Silent War is Here! Headed off to North Carolina tomorrow for UCA WAVES’ conference, Roots & Resilience: The Power of Data & Stories to Advance AAPI Youth Mental Health. This event has been months in the making, and brings together talented, passionate people from across the country. There, we’ll also be…
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Highlighting Men’s Mental Health During Suicide Prevention Month
Giving Hope A Face In honor of National Suicide Prevention Month, I wanted to repost a story I did back in September of 2023 during my time at Lancaster EMS. One of our drivers, Jeremy, took the digital floor to speak candidly about being a survivor of childhood abuse and his struggles with mental health,…
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A Message for Those Who Feel Helpless in Our Current Climate
Put Your Life Vest On First I wanted to share something that intersects with both Suicide Prevention Month and our current landscape as a country after flying back home on 9/11 in the wake of a very publicized assassination. While abroad, I was lucky enough to connect with people from all over the world. Something…
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Silent War Enters the Film Festival Circuit
Wish Us Luck! For the past four years, I’ve served as the Assistant Director to award-winning filmmaker (and my former professor), Changfu Chang’s upcoming film, Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health. After years of production, we’ve finally entered the film festival circuit! Last month, we started strong, learning Silent War was selected for…
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New Resource Hub of Wellness Apps, Podcasts & More for People Healing Trauma
Digital Tools to Guide the Way While the documentary, Paper Birds, aims to start a discussion, the hope is for the film’s website to guide viewers’ next steps. The last addition to the resources tab was a master list of book recommendations directly sourced from trauma survivors across a number of online communities. Now, we’re returning…
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A New Photo! (And A Little Story)
A Warm Surprise Alas, a new photo! Probably not as cool as I envisioned it in my head, but this was inspired by a pretty recent moment: I was working in my room late at night on Paper Birds this past weekend, and my mom came into my room unexpectedly and just started running her…
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Film Stills In Honor of PTSD Awareness Month
A Short Reflection June is PTSD Awareness Month. In honor of that, I wanted to share a few stills from my upcoming documentary, Paper Birds. I was 20 when I was officially diagnosed with PTSD after a traumatic memory from childhood resurfaced the summer prior. It took me a year and a half to begin…
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Silent War Update
Some Candid Thoughts On the Film’s Journey & My Own Some Silent War film stills shot by Dr. Chang that I threw in #Lightroom. Like any project, this has grown and taken longer in ways we didn’t anticipate, but we truly are nearing the end now. Next weekend, I’ll be headed to Maryland to retape…
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Behind the Scenes of Paper Birds
January 16th, 2025 Some behind the scenes shots on the set of Paper Birds last week, courtesy of Amber Stuart. Everything I do is so my future hypothetical children will think I’m cool. Thanks Dr. Chang for serving as the Director of Photography for the retaping of my interview! 📲If you’d like to learn more…
A.C. Brooke 