The new video about mental health features the voice and likeness of Mike Condra, director of Health, Counselling and Disability Services.

Two students are the creative forces behind a new video that explores the issue of mental health.

Bachelor of fine art student Faith Webster and film student Sierra Megas drew, filmed and edited the video, titled “What is Mental Health? with Dr. Mike Condra.” The five-minute video provides a brief overview of mental health and mental illness.

“Working on this project was a reminder for me that mental health is as important a part of our health as eating, exercising, socializing and learning,” says Ms. Megas. “It was fulfilling to be working on something that will educate others, specifically students, on a component of their lives that contributes to their happiness, health and well-being.”

The idea for the video, which features an illustration of Mike Condra, director of Health, Counselling and Disability Services (HCDS), came from staff members in the Health Promotion unit at HCDS, who had seen similar health-related videos created by a Toronto doctor.

“We were looking for a way to capture some of the important information Dr. Condra includes in his mental health training sessions and share it more widely with the Queen’s community in a way that’s fun and creative,” says Kate Humphrys, Health Promotion Coordinator.

The cross-disciplinary project also provided a valuable learning experience for the students.

“Collaborating with Faith was a delight because she brought a strong visual sense to the project,” says Ms. Megas. “We were each working in different artistic mediums which challenged us to think about what kind of images we were making and how we would use them to convey a message around mental health that would be simple and easy for others to understand.”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.