A Teen Mental Health Series Comes to Dakota Ridge January 28th
Though the films are free admission, they must be RVSP’d through Dakota Ridge’s home website. The movies will be dispersed through January, February, and April.
January 27, 2020
“What I stress with the IB kids is finding balance, because I think that’s truly a life skill. It’s not just something kids and teens need to learn, adults very desperately need to learn that as well,” Davis says on the importance of Angst and how anxiety plays into high school stress.
The Teen Mental Health series, sponsored by Dakota Ridge’s Counseling Department and the Dakota Ridge IB Parent Association, will begin showing three separate films on January 28th, February 20th, and April 15th.
The films, Angst, Like, and The Upstanders, are produced by IndieFlix, a streaming service which provides screening events for schools, corporations, and communities. These films tackle topics like academic anxiety, social media addiction, and bullying.
“When we looked at the three movies we thought they all looked fantastic,” Holly Davis, Dakota Ridge IB coordinator and co-organizer of the film series, said, “and that there’s a very significant need for all three of them.”
Angst, playing the 28th at 7:00 p.m., documents and raises awareness around anxiety disorders, specifically students’ school stress.
“That is one of the most prevalent issues that we work with in counseling, is the amount of anxiety that kids have,” Brian Plautz, Dakota Ridge counselor says. “Angst really jumped out at us. We said we need to bring this to our community.”
IndieFlix’s films seek to bring communities together and push communication about mental health, which is what organizers Plautz and Davis hope they achieve through the screenings.
The films will face difficult topics on mental health issues that adults and teenagers face daily. “Awareness and mindfulness is really our goal,” Plautz says, “and maybe create some of those conversations that a mom can look at their kid and go, ‘what are you dealing with?’”
“Kids and adults can get the help they need,” Davis says on the impact of the films, “be it from just hearing some things in movies, having conversations, having self-awareness.”
“Often times when you see a movie or any kind of media, a lot of that is the connection, like, ‘wow, that person gets what I’m feeling.’ I’m hoping that maybe these movies will cause some of that,” Plautz says. “It [the movies] also provides some tips for how to work through it and better communicate, and how to better find that balance rather than some of the unhealthy things we do to deal with life.”
The films are free admission, but must be RSVP’d through Dakota Ridge’s website. Concessions will be held during the screenings and proceeds will be donated to Jeffco’s Day Without Hate fund, which will be celebrated a week after the film series’ final movie on April 15th.
Angst will be screening on January 28th, Like on February 20th, and The Upstanders on April 15th all in Dakota Ridge’s auditorium at 7:00 pm. Trailers for the movies can be found on Dakota Ridge’s main website, as well as tickets for each film.
