Eastman creates documentary about mental health issues

Mental health is something that people from across the globe struggle with, and many of which have no idea there are possible solutions.

Eric Eastman, Menasha High School psychology teacher, wants to shine some light onto these issues that can cause damage and that many people may not be aware of.

Eastman is in the process of creating a series of documentaries.  While he says they are more targeted at teens and people in their early twenties, they are really for anyone– teachers, students, parents, etc. 

Eastman said they are for anyone that “needs some level of hope or knowledge”. 

Documentaries are definitely not simple to create, or quick, but Eastman said the goal for the documentaries goes beyond the process it takes. 

“Our mission is to make people aware of the programs and opportunities in our community that can help individuals overcome mental health obstacles.”

The creation process is far from simple, as each individual part of the documentary has a different task to be done for it. This includes editing, writing, or finding others willing to participate in an interview. 

Although it is time consuming, Eastman states is not alone for the process.

Eastman is the lead writer, his friend Bear Wade, is the lead director, and they are both producers.  As a writer, Eastman creates the questions and the content, and Bear Wade does the filming and most of the editing.  They work together on the budget, interviews, set up, and other things such as content forms.

For interviews, Eastman gives the person the questions ahead of time, and they get about an hour of film on somebody, and then the film is edited down.

It might be a long process, but Eastman explains the worth of the project in his eyes and the excitement about the eventual release of the documentary. Eastman and Wade are hoping to “generate a wave of hope and excitement about the ways people can heal”.

Eastman describes the plan to create a series of five documentaries.

“We are in the process of finishing our third, and we meet in St. Louis at the end of March to set our timeline and dates. So if I guessed, the majority would be done at the end of Summer 2024 and edited by January 2025.”

The funds for the project are contributions from friends, businesses, family, and from Eastman and Wade. 

Though funding can be a struggle at times, the two creators are also miles apart and this is not their primary job. Wade lives in Missouri and Eastman is in Wisconsin, so they use summers and vacations to complete the work.

Eastman said another struggle they face is finding new individuals to interview for their stories.  If anyone wants to share a mental health story, they can email Eastman at eastmane@mjsd.k12.wi.us

But, despite struggles and hours of work on the documentaries, Eastman thinks in the end the grind is worth it.

Eastman said one of the greatest learnings during the process was that there are a lot of resources available for people, but they are unknown resources to many young adults.

“There's a lot of safe spaces for people that I didn't know about, even though I've been invested for a long time. We are just looking to spread that word, and make things better for some of those people,” Eastman said.