00:00My name's Dawn Maria France. I'm a journalist, a mental health advocate and also a scriptwriter.
00:07For this event, we're celebrating and talking about mental health.
00:10I wanted to be the kind of scriptwriter who looked at local stories.
00:14I didn't see that reflected in the scriptwriting space.
00:18And with my mental health training, I wanted to develop a story about the men in our community.
00:25So for many years, it's been really difficult for black men to get the kind of help they need.
00:31They've had to deal with structural racism in spaces that wasn't welcoming to them as men that were suffering mental
00:39health issues.
00:40It's a short 10-minute film called The Unwavering Spirit of a Caribbean Father.
00:45It's about James. He's from the Caribbean. He comes to Yorkshire in the 1970s.
00:50You see how his health is deteriorating because the person in the factory is harassing him.
00:57So that's why I wanted to write a film about men getting the support that they so need in their
01:04hours of need.
01:05And also for black men specifically to start a conversation.
01:09Coming from a Yorkshire lady here as well, it encapsulates a lot of the local guys that are around here
01:19and what they have gone through.
01:22We have, luckily enough, a good safe space here at Feel Good Factor for guys to come down and feel
01:30free to open up and express with their peers what's going on in their lives, how they'd like to change
01:36it.
01:36You know, we know that statistically we have a lot of black males that are sectioned more than any other
01:46race.
01:47And what we need to do is really look at that.
01:50We really need to listen to what's going on with guys, especially black males, in this time and period in
01:58our lives.
01:59And find out what is it that we can do to assist them.
02:04I'm just happy to say that the film itself was great.
02:08The Feel Good Factor is brilliant, is inspiring.
02:11That's why I even get the chance to come down here and be a part of the group members and
02:15be a part of what's going on.
02:16It also is wonderful to me, very supportive.
02:19So I really enjoyed coming to this.
02:21Interestingly, you still find cases where men are not comfortable to speak about difficult situations to their partners, to their
02:27families.
02:28And that is where groups like this come into place.
02:31You know, the Feel Good Factor, Men's Connect Group, I think is very fantastic because it's very important to have
02:35this sort of conversation because it improves people's mental health.
02:38I feel as a script writer, there are many people that have come to attend this screening and doing the
02:44right thing.
02:45There's loads of conversations happening about mental health, about men's well-being.
02:49And I think the takeaway from my film is it's OK not to be OK.
02:54It's a sign of strength to ask for help when you need it, not a sign of weakness.
02:59It's a sign of strength to ask for help when you need it, not a sign of weakness.
