Senior Citizen

This workshop will be offered once at Wisconsin Heights High School to students only, and a second time for students to repeat at the public library with community participants.

Keeping a journal helps you establish order when your world feels like it’s in chaos. It helps you get to know yourself by revealing your innermost fears, thoughts, and feelings. Journaling can help to cope with depression, anxiety and stress. Negative thoughts can be identified, giving an avenue for change, and provide an opportunity for positive self-talk.

Many forms of disability, including mental illness, are represented in multimedia like film, television and music. This presentation will examine the musical and visual depictions of mental illness in three of Shakespeare’s plays: Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear.

At age six, January ("Jani") Schofield was diagnosed with one of the most severe cases of child-onset schizophrenia on record. A passionate and inspirational account, January First is a father's soul-bearing memoir of the daily challenges and unwavering commitment to save his daughter from the edge of insanity while doing everything he can to keep his family together.

The Sun Prairie Public Library will have one or more of our regular book groups read and discuss this powerful story and the impact that mental illness can have on the entire family.

This presentation will examine the history of language surrounding mental illness, how this language has evolved, how the words we have used and still use when talking about mental illness may contribute to the stigma surrounding mental illness, and where we are now (for example, the current concept of "person-first language"). Presented by Dr. Sarah Hessenauer, Department of Social Work, UW-Whitewater. This program is provided by a generous grant from Beyond the Page, This program is part of the series, "What We Are Going Through: Listening to Mental Illness."

What is stigma? What creates stigma? Can you recognize mental health stigma? Why is mental health stigma a problem? What can we do to reduce mental health stigma? Mental illness stigma comes in many forms. Exclusion, silence, and labeling are just a few. Through self-reflection, discussion and interactive exercises, learn about how you can recognize mental health stigmas, what happens when people are stigmatized, and what you can do to help reduce the resulting problems.

What is stigma? What creates stigma? Can you recognize mental health stigma? Why is mental health stigma a problem? What can we do to reduce mental health stigma? Mental illness stigma comes in many forms. Exclusion, silence, and labeling are just a few. Through self-reflection, discussion and interactive exercises, learn about how you can recognize mental health stigmas, what happens when people are stigmatized, and what you can do to help reduce the resulting problems.

What is stigma? What creates stigma? Can you recognize mental health stigma? Why is mental health stigma a problem? What can we do to reduce mental health stigma? Mental illness stigma comes in many forms. Exclusion, silence, and labeling are just a few. Through self-reflection, discussion and interactive exercises, learn about how you can recognize mental health stigmas, what happens when people are stigmatized, and what you can do to help reduce the resulting problems.

How does one address subjects too painful to speak of, too personal to publicize? And how does one do it in a manner that is both entertaining and informative? Come and meet author and speaker Karl Stewart and discover how he found a path through the Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) that ravaged his family. Learn how the writing of two novels, The Seventh Cruise, and Up Harvey’s Creek provided the venue, first to explore the illness that plagued his father, and secondly how an eleven year old boy sought to cope with it.

How does one address subjects too painful to speak of, too personal to publicize?And how does one do it in a manner that is both entertaining and informative? Come and meet author and speaker Karl Stewart and discover how he found a path through the Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) that ravaged his family. Learn how the writing of two novels, The Seventh Cruise, and Up Harvey’s Creek provided the venue, first to explore the illness that plagued his father, and secondly how an eleven year old boy sought to cope with it.

"The Madness & The Mandolin" is the story of a talented young bluegrass musician, Kelley Gibson, who learned to battle manic episodes & cope with autism spectrum disorder less through medication but instead through bringing wellness into his life. The film’s creator, Dr. Sean Ackerman, will present this brand new documentary and talk about the making of the film.