Monster in the Closet | ReachOut.com

Dannielle O’Connell is announced as winner of ReachOut.com’s film competition ‘Inspire a Generation’.

In June this year ReachOut.com launched their first national film competition, ‘Inspire a Generation’. The challenge set out by ReachOut.com was to create a short film or animation, which explores youth mental health in a positive light.

The films had to promote constructive attitudes and challenge stereotypes around mental health issues. Most importantly the films needed to demonstrate how young people can get through tough times.

Dannielle O’Connell, a graphic design graduate from Wicklow, produced the winning entry with “Monster in the closet” a short motion piece, where aspects of mental health awareness are explored through interviews with young people regarding their own experiences/understanding of mental health problems. All three participants discuss how they overcame their fears of communicating with other people and how talking about their problems was the first step in their recovery.

Says Dannielle ‘Often an obstacle faced by people struggling with mental health issues is the worry of how other people might view them were they to express their feelings of anxiety or depression. Conducting the interviews for this project revealed that sufferers of mental health issues feel isolated and outcast, meaning that they are less likely to reach out to others for help or advice. What I found challenging in the brief was attempting to communicate the seriousness of mental health issues whilst maintaining an upbeat and engaging tone throughout the piece.’

ReachOut.com is a service dedicated to taking the mystery out of mental health. They aim to provide quality assured mental health information and inspiring real life stories by young people to help other young people get through tough times. ReachOut.com also provides information about other services that can help people deal with mental health problems.

ReachOut.com is run by the Inspire Ireland Foundation which is a not for profit, non government registered charity.

Pictured are winner Dannielle O’Connell with ReachOut’s CEO, Elaine Gerraghty.