Episode 1

Meet Anna, Sky, Brett, and Michaela. They are among the 20% of American children that are impacted by a diagnosable mental illness each year.

In our first episode of the series, Opening Doors, Opening Minds, we focus on Growing Up with Mental Illness. Each story offers an honest and sometimes painful look at the challenges of living with mental illness. Yet, each child's story offers hope for the future, and invites viewers to examine how they view mental illness within their families and their communities.

Person Profiles

Anna

Age: 16

"I am bipolar. I have been living with that my whole life. I have depression and anxiety and it affects me every day. I can go from being in a great mood to being in the worst, depressed mood ever, thinking that I want to kill myself, thinking that, you know, why bother to live when no one really cares, and I know that's just like a bunch of lies, but the chemical imbalances in my brain just tell me that life isn't worth living."

Brett and Sky

Ages: 14 and 9

Brett and Sky are brothers. Brett was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, (PDD) and learning disabilities. Sky is autistic. Dad says, "There's nothing wrong with Sky. There's nothing wrong with Brett. They just look at the world differently. They deal with things differently."

Micheala

Age: 22

"I have features of borderline personality disorder, generalized anxiety, and bipolar disorder, with poly substance abuse and bulimna nervosa in remission. I am president of NAMI on Campus at CCSU. I have a drive to help others. I've been through so much and I've heard so many stories. I want to use that information to motive and help others."