A Handshake and a Smile: Video-making, Young People and Mental Health

This article examines a recent community program that taught basic video-making skills to rural young people with mental illness. It aimed to assist the social integration of young people with mental illness and foster self-expression through video-making. While the project is examined here primarily from a film studies perspective, this analysis also extends the disciplines of film and media studies by situating the project in the contexts of community arts, arts therapy and mental illness.