Ep. 52 - Mental Health ft. Abbie Brasch & Dakota Sillyman

BrownTown shares virtual space with Abbie Brasch and Dakota
Sillyman, multi-talented friends of SoapBox and mental health
advocates who create resources and media for learning and
navigating mental health on all levels. Abbie discusses the
impetus of her journal, how it helped her and is now helping
others while Dakota discusses how Cope is positioned as a
digestible entry-way to various aspects of mental health. The
group takes a step back to examine common resources for mental
health and issues with how it is often discussed in mainstream
circles. With this, Abbie breaks down her recent article on an
episode of Community  that dealt with mental health
medication as David question the role of big pharma. On media,
BrownTown and company take on how mental health shows up and the
responsibility of creators/audiences in films such as It's
Kind of a Funny Story (2010), The Ringer (2005),
Waterboy (1998), A Star is Born (2018), and
Joker (2019).


Enter institutions, capitalism, social media, and community care:
Dakota delivers a brief history of mental health institutional
funding and policy (peep Community Mental Health Act of 1963) and
progressive/grassroots struggles in Chicago (peep STOP Chicago,
Healing Village). Lastly, the group elaborates on the
intersections of it all and how we value (or devalue) mental
health from a societal, individual, and interpersonal
 standpoint, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic.


GUESTS
Abbie Brasch is a mental health advocate and soon-to-be clinical
massage therapist who created the 365 day Mental Health Daily
Journal.


Dakota Sillyman is a filmmaker and the creator of the mental
health podcast, Cope.


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Follow Abbie's work on Instagram (personal, Soul Speaks Books),
Medium, and her Soul Speak Books website where you can purchase a
journal!


Follow Dakota on Twitter, Instagram, and his website
DakotaSillyman.com. Listen to Cope at CopeRadio.com or wherever
you find your podcasts!


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CREDITS: Intro/outro music collaboration from
Genta Tamashiro and Fiendsh. Audio engineering by Genta
Tamashiro.


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