Four Corners Community Behavioral Health presents two free screenings of a documentary called Paper Tigers on Tuesday, May 24 at 6:00 pm at the USU Eastern Jennifer Leavitt Student Center Alumni Room and Wednesday, May 25 at 4:00 pm at the King Koal Theater.
Jonathan Fauver, Utah YES Grant Coordinator spoke about the event, “A story about mental illness and unlikely story of success that one high school had. It’s a movie that will help people hopefully reduce some stigma around mental illness and addiction and maybe have an eye-opening experience of what maybe their family members experience or others that they love experience.” The film was seen by staff members of Four Corners Behavioral Community Health at a Film Festival and felt the message was something that they needed to share with the community.
“It’s probably not good for children it is a documentary and therefore it’s not rated. But they do swear and I’m going to say that there is some language probably PG-13 and above,” said Fauver. The documentary takes place in Walla Walla, Washington and follows six students for a span of a year. They have problems ranging from behavioral issues, substance abuse and other traumatic events.
There are many times that society disengages when it comes to mental illness due to lack of education. Fauver added, “There is a lot of judgmentalness that I think is precipitated mostly by misunderstanding. If any of us were to look around, we have a lot of family members who suffer from mental illness but also from substance abuse and addiction very often we keep that a secret as families. I myself am a person in long time recovery and I’ve been in recovery for a while now and I really love helping people who are struggling and suffering so they don’t have to struggle any longer.”
This event is a perfect opportunity to learn and gain knowledge of the illness so that individuals show compassion toward those that suffer from mental illness and/or addiction. “I would encourage anyone who has any interest in viewing this movie or potentially hosting a screening of this movie to give me a call Jonathan Fauver at Four Corners and our number is 637-7200,” stated Fauver.