The Express-Times News Article Sunday, August 03, 2008
Healing a life of sickness through film teacher produces documentary about mental illness.
Sunday, August 03, 2008 By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG
Richard Patricia traveled across the state to ask people hundreds of questions about growing up with a loved one suffering from a mental illness. But telling his own story remains difficult for the Warren County Technical School teacher. Patricia's story is one of sometimes spending more time at Warren Hospital than at home. It is a story of losing one's home in the face of medical expenses. The healing is the part of the story that Patricia wants to share through a documentary he produced. "There are some things you just don't want to talk about," the television, radio and digital media teacher said. "You tend to try to forget about some things that have taken place in life and move to a bright future." Patricia's relative, whom he asked not be identified, has obtained a degree of self-sufficiency and lived alone the past 13 years. In his film, "Strive for Happiness," he tries to show how families overcome the challenges of caring for a relative with a mental illness. The interviews in the film bring out several common struggles, including financial hardships, the feeling of not knowing where to go for help and the need to allow a loved one to become more self-sufficient, Patricia said. "You have to see that person hit bottom to get better but always support the person," Patricia said. The Phillipsburg resident's film should help eliminate the stigma attached to the diseases, said Debra Wentz, CEO of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies.
"Ignorance breeds fear," she said. "I'm very supportive of anything that's so educational." Patricia said he began to notice signs of his relative's mental illness when he was about 12 years old in the early 1980s. A teenage Patricia was soon playing pingpong at the hospital on a regular basis, while his loved one lay comatose in a bed.
"I found myself in a situation where I had to grow up pretty fast," Patricia narrates in the film. "There wasn't a thing I could do for her. I felt pretty helpless." Patricia kept a journal while growing up and later penned a script for a class at Northampton Community College. About three years ago, sitting amid the Smoky Mountains on a family vacation, he sat down at night and returned to his story. Finishing the film has brought closure to that chapter in his life, he said. One of the film's lasting messages is that there's hope for families dealing with mental illness, Patricia said. "These folks need to be treated like human beings," he said. "The mentally ill are very much self-sufficient and need to be. "But they also need the support and they need the care and they need the love."
Reporter Bill Wichert can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by e-mail at bwichert@express-times.com.
The Warren Reporter
Filmmaker sheds light on mental illnesses by Takesha Pettus
Warren Reporter
Saturday August 16, 2008, 7:38 PM Life hasn't always been easy for Richard Patricia. "There were many, many hours of not so good times in my life," said Patricia. While growing up in Phillipsburg, a family member who Patricia refers to as a "loved one" suffered from mental illness. Patricia will admit it hasn't been easy, but he has become the voice of many who suffer from mental illness through a self-produced, award-winning documentary, "Strive for Happiness".
The entire process has become cathartic, Patricia said, and is the culmination of a long journey.
It began several years ago at Northampton Community College in a script writing class. Patricia chose to get personal and write about his family life prior to his moving out on his own at age 18.
The script turned into a journal of sorts discussing his family life, particularly the ups and downs of life with a loved one who suffers from mental illness. Although this loved one is now doing fine, he said, the script empowered him, giving him the ability to speak openly about what many often keep quiet.
But, he didn't immediately begin working on the documentary.
Patricia completed his education at Northampton Community College, earning his associate's degree in radio and television Production. He then attended William Paterson University, earning his bachelor's degree in communications and eventually onto Wilkes University, where he earned a master's degree in science with a concentration in classroom technology. For the past 13 years, he has been a radio, television and digital media teacher at Warren County Technical School.
"Things need to change," Patricia said of the stigmas associated with someone with mental illness. "It's kind of sad the way society looks at things."
Patricia said he wanted the documentary to explore the lives of those living with someone with a mental illness. There was also a more personal reason for doing the documentary.
"I really needed to close the book to it," said Patricia, referring to his struggle with his childhood life.
So, Patricia said he did what he knows how to do best to inform others about mental illness -- produce a video.
"The whole process has just opened up my eyes to what is out there," said Patricia.
With the help of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies, he was able to find five families who were willing to speak with him on camera, giving a glimpse into the lives of families with a member who has mental illness.
"It's tough to get people to open up about it," said Patricia.
But he managed. The film touches on what life was like for these families and themselves before mental illness hit, he said. It also explores the families' lives from dealing with stigmas associated with mental illness and how it impacts the family, financially and emotionally, and how they managed to deal with mental illness to eventually find happiness.
"People look down on a lot of people who are mentally ill," said Patricia.
But what many don't realize, he said, is that one-in-five suffer from some type of mental illness.
"Most function just fine in today's society," said Patricia.
Mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of mental disorders has changed over time and across cultures, and classifications of mental disorders can vary.
Patricia said the self-financed film took three years to complete. Between teaching at Warren County Technical School and his part-time job as a wedding and party videographer at D-Vision Video, the father and husband managed to shoot and edit the film.
Patricia said he didn't make the documentary for profit. He did it to inform.
"Hopefully this can change people's views about mental illness," said Patricia.
For more information about purchasing and downloading the film, log onto www.striveforhappiness.com or www.indieflix.com.
Northampton Community College Newsletter, August 6, 2008
NCC Alumni in the News
August 6, 2008
Northampton Community College alumni are putting their talents and education to work in many interesting ways:
RichardPatricia, a graduate of NCC's Radio/TV program, has directed and produced a film called “Strive For Happiness," to raise awareness of mental illness. Through the documentary he hopes to remove some of the stigmas that still exist about mental illness and to effect change in public policy that affect individuals with mental illness and their families. As someone who grew up in a household with a loved one who suffered from some serious forms of mental illness, Patricia wants the film to catch the attention of people who know or live with people with similar conditions. To find out more about his film or to purchase a copy, visit www.striveforhappiness.com.
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