The topic of mental illness is rarely talked about publicly in this country. Society in general tends to shy away from dealing with mental health issues, which should be a national concern. Perhaps due to lack of exposure, people can fall under the impression that they are immune from experiencing mental illness and pay no attention to the issue until it "hits home." Mental illness should be considered one of the most silent disabilities in this country. The symptoms can arise at anytime in anyone's life, but in general are concentrated around the late teenage years or early adulthood. Therefore, families, childcare providers and primary school staff may not recognize signs of problems developing during childhood.

Child Mental Health Issues Labeled as Behavioral
When it comes to children with mental illness, the usual response is to label the child as having a behavioral problem. Therefore, they are increasingly placed on medication to control their behavior. A mental illness diagnosis is perhaps close to the last option when evaluating a child's behavior and abnormalities. Consequently, one does not hear much about the population of children with mental illnesses in the media.

Therefore, the Hogg Foundation took on a huge task when they decided to begin filling in the gap of information about children experiencing mental illness. "Are the Kids Alright?" is a documentary solely based on the barriers that Texan families face when a mental illness is a constant, everyday reality in their children's lives. Along with advocates, service providers, and policy makers, the stories of many families that perhaps were hopeless and living in silence were given a voice. In addition, the film sheds light on the vast disparity in public and private funding. "Are the Kids Alright?" provides a view into the huge population of youth under 18 years of age who have serious mental health challenges, but a only small portion of whom are diagnosed and treated per year.

Award winning mental health film focuses on minority children in Texas
The Bridges to Employment Conference held a workshop pertaining to the portrayal of people with disabilities in the media. Dr. Mary Elizabeth De Ferreire was the workshop's main speaker. Dr. De Ferreire is the president of the Rio Grande Valley Psychological Association and also directs her own multicultural mental health practice in McAllen, TX, seeing approximately 1000 children a year.

De Ferreire knows the ins and outs of children having a mental illness as a disability. She is visited everyday by family members who are eager to learn and understand what is going on with their children and what they can do to help them. Due to her expertise, the Hogg Foundation asked her to help answer the question, "Are the Kids Alright?" The producers of the documentary approached De Ferreire at the perfect time to take part in the film because it was around the same time cutbacks on mental services were being put into effect by the Texas legislature. The proposed cutbacks would have meant De Ferreire would have to stop treating the children that she was seeing, who are 96 percent Latino.

Film makes strong social and political statement
De Ferreire made her mark in the film when she unknowingly created the theme song of the documentary. The song was comprised of four words. "There are no beds" was what De Ferreire had to repeat throughout the film to the families who were advised to place their children in hospitals due to their escalating mental illnesses. The shortage of beds was the direct result of the cutbacks in Medicaid funding.

This documentary creates a great forum for the stories of the mentally ill children and their families to be heard and hopefully understood. Less than a year after its creation, the film is being shown on most of the PBS stations in Texas. The film was part of the reason that Medicaid funds were reinstated along with the $4.8 million grant that was awarded to the Hogg Foundation for mental health treatment. Dr. De Ferreire's role in the film helped to call attention to the crises that mentally ill children have to endure, and the media was used to showcase the lack of attention to mental health issues in the rural areas of Texas.

Because they trust me…
She saw "Are the Kids Alright?" as a way to use the media, which is for the most part lacking focus on Latino issues, as a vehicle to make change in her community. One technique she used to challenge the system was to have a photograph taken of the children as they were brought to her office by their parents, then to drop the picture in the mail to the Governor with a note, "What should I tell this child?"

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