What if we told you that your child was at-risk? At risk for using drugs. At risk for dropping out of school. At risk for death by suicide. We typically think of at-risk youth as belonging to one fringe group or another. But no matter where your kids come from or how you raise them, all of our teens are at risk and need our support.
Next month is National Suicide Prevention month and we should all be considering what our teens deal with and how to better support them. All of our youth face enormous challenges and are at risk for suicidal tendencies. With the additional obstacles faced by LGBTQ youth, they are 4 times more at risk to attempt suicide than their straight peers.
Mythic Bridge supports at-risk youth through the transformative power of filmmaking. We enable them to actualize their potential through filmmaking workshops. In honor of National Suicide Prevention month, we are promoting our LGBTQ filmmaking programs. This series of workshops were created specifically for LGBTQ youth and their supportive straight peers. Through this programming, these kids are able to share their stories in a safe, accepting environment and learn that their voices have value and the power to break through to the community.
To this end, we hired creative agencies Happy United and Rabbit Rabbit & Partners to help us start the vital conversation that we need to support LGBTQ youth. Our hope is for our efforts to raise awareness about this issue and our work at Mythic Bridge. We are very proud to launch the campaign "Change the Script" celebrating a supportive, creative community that has the power to change the lives of LGBTQ youth.
As part of this campaign, Happy United and Rabbit, Rabbit & Partners brought in the powerful director Xander™ and production companies Backyard and Fifth Planet films to collaborate on a series of videos showing LGBTQ teens confronting their challenges head on, to boldly "Change the Script." The sets for these films were also mini workshops as Xander™ acted as a mentor, teaching his craft to Mythic Bridge participants that joined as part of the cast and crew of the production. In anticipation of National Suicide Prevention month, we are launching our first spot, Change The Script: LGBTQ Suicide PSA.
The campaign will continue to roll out with a portrait series made up of people who support LGBTQ youth and our filmmaking workshops. Participants in the series share their personal stories on how they would like to "Change The Script." Transgender super-model Geena Rocero has partnered with us and is a champion for this campaign. She says...
Other luminaries from the film community such as actress Alysia Reiner, director Pamela Romanowsky and actor Christian Campbell, along with Mythic Bridge mentors, workshop participants and other supporters of LGBTQ youth have participated in the series.
Film gives you the power to take ownership of your narrative and take control of your own story. There are many ways to lend your support. This is ours. Alongside our effort to promote awareness, we've launched a CrowdRise to raise the money necessary to continue our efforts. We are asking you to donate to "Change the Script" for LGBTQ youth.
As this campaign rolls out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we'll continue to share the stories of our LGBTQ teens and their vocal supporters as they "Change the Script" for our youth. Please help us make a difference and donate here:
http://mythicbridge.org/support/action
See also: A great article that Upworthy.com just put out about our organization:
http://www.upworthy.com/a-gut-wrenching-psa-shows-a-gay-teens-final-texts-before-saying-goodbye?c=hpstream