Animals with issues spreading mental health humor and hope, oh my! And here to shine a playful light on mental illness to soften its stigma. One in five people in America are affected by mental illness. But it's still considered a dark topic. We'd like to change that. What's dark is the stigma that disempowers people to get the help they need; people quietly suffering or worse—lives lost. We created these animals with issues to lighten this difficult conversation. If we can let our guard down and speak more openly about something that touches so many, we'd all be better for it. #takesonetoloveone www.gentlementals.com IG: @gentlementals A Tiny Movement initiative. Created by: Veronica Padilla Animated by: Jaime Klein Narrated by: Vakart Illustrated, written & sound by: Veronica Padilla Excerpt from ENDPAIN Interview: ENDPAIN IN THE WORLD: GENTLE MENTALS FEATURING VERONICA PADILLA INTERVIEW BY GRACE GREGORY Gentle Mentals is a multimedia initiative that aims to incite a safe and honest dialogue about mental illness with the mission of normalizing the experience while spreading knowledge about various conditions. The project features anthropomorphic animals, each representing a different diagnosis – among them Bipolar Bear, Hypochondriac Hippo, and Depressed Dolphin. As stated on their website, “[The animals] allow us as humans to step back, relate and see mental illness without judgment. They carry the burden of the label so we don’t have to.” By making the content playful and kid-friendly, Gentle Mentals wants to make the topic approachable while encouraging the conversation to begin at an early age. Doing so will hopefully generate a longer-lasting, systemic cultural shift in the way we think about and treat mental illness. GG: We hear “destigmatizing” a lot in regards to mental illness, but what does that actually mean and more importantly, look like? VP: Rather than talking about ending the stigma, or “destigmatization,” Gentle Mentals fast forwards and creates a space where the stigma just doesn’t exist. We don’t tiptoe or walk on eggshells. We’re matter-of-fact about these very real conditions and we wrap them up in a sweet visual package to disarm them. People inherently relate with the characters because these conditions are so common, and they quickly adopt at least one of them as their own, sometimes a few. Then they find themselves talking about their own diagnoses, symptoms, or issues. GG: The dichotomy you pose about labels – that they can be both damaging and empowering – is really interesting and relevant to the wider conversation around pain and illness. How can we use labels to our advantage and resist being defined by them? We like to say that labels are the P.I.T.S. (Provocative Invitations to Talk Sincerely.) We’re fully aware that being defined by a single label sucks. But that’s not what we’re doing. We aren’t using the labels to shame, name-call or offend, but instead as a tool to inspire dialogue. That’s where the empowering part comes in. Gentle Mentals are fictional animals with very real issues. And each character is named according to the illness they deal with – Bipolar Bear, Borderline Collie, ADHD’eer, etc. These labels are shorthand for understanding a bit of their story and are the gateway into a larger discussion. Rather than talking about the stigma and how we need to stop it, our characters embody a specific illness trait. And the characters themselves do the heavy lifting for us. People relate to the characters instantly—I often get responses like, “I love OCD Otter!” or “Hypochondriac Hippo is my favorite!” or “I can so relate to PTSDingo and Anxiety Allie!” Suddenly people find themselves talking about it without even realizing it and it’s not awkward at all. It normalizes and neutralizes something that is typically very touchy – which is really freeing and exactly the point. I love the fact that they feel a sweet affinity towards these labeled animals. It also reminds me of when Barbie finally made a brunette when I was a kid and I remember being thrilled that there was finally one for me. But beyond all these things, it goes without saying that no single label could ever define us because we are made up of thousands. And having this perspective is also very liberating. Full Interview here: https://www.endpain.com/stories-gentle-mentals--28b51b672e438b15bc088440147d1d7a3b26796e Gentle Mentals are here to shine a playful light on mental health awareness and to soften mental health stigma. Visit Our mental family of animals here www.gentlementals.com IG: @gentlementals And no, we're not the Kanye West kind of Gentle Mentals :p