Seevic

SEEVIC College student Fiona Malpass, 19, from Rayleigh has produced an emotive short film with the help of ITV fixers to raise awareness of mental health and depression in teenagers.

The film, Suffer In Silence, is based around a teenage boy who is suffering from depression. He feels that something is not right in his life but does not understand why he feels this way. When things get too much he considers suicide, until one of his friends realises that something is wrong and encourages him to talk about his feelings.

Fiona, who suffered from depression herself in her younger teenage years said: “I wanted to make the film to help young people understand more about the condition and encourage them to talk to someone if they feel that they are experiences difficulties.”

Fiona volunteers for mental health charity Rethink and vinspired. She worked with vinspired and the ITV Fixers team to develop the script for the film, source and audition local actors as well as find suitable locations for the film to be shot.

The film was featured as part of news broadcast on ITV Anglia Region alternating between documentary and drama, including interviews with mental health patients, specialists and filmmaker Fiona. The broadcast also features clips from the film showing reconstructions of life as a young person with mental health problems.

The film will also be passed out to schools around Essex to be used as a tool to raise youth awareness of the condition. Fiona said: “There has been such a fantastic response to the film. After the ITV broadcast parents even phoned in to the station to ask for more information. It’s been an incredible experience and I hope it goes some way to helping others.”

After completing her course, Access to Higher Education at SEEVIC College, Fiona plans to study psychology at The University of Westminster with the hope of going on to have a successful career as a psychologist.