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Filmmaker Parker Foster says his films and PSA work grew from his own struggles with depression
Summary
Parker Foster discussed using filmmaking to address mental health, describing therapy, a self-financed suicide-awareness PSA, and collaborations with BetterHelp and other artists; he urged conversation and shared experience as part of recovery.
Parker Foster described how personal struggles with mental health and therapy shaped his creative work and led him to produce films and public-service work aimed at suicide awareness. "My therapist said, once things clear up, you should make a PSA on how you feel," Foster said, describing the genesis of a self-financed suicide-awareness PSA he made after therapy.
Foster also said he worked on projects with the online counseling service BetterHelp and that his mental-health films have received awards, including a Webby and a People’s Choice Award. He explained his goal is not to present a quick-fix narrative: "I don't think you just wake up and you don't feel depressed anymore. I think you take time and you build the tools and you sort of learn how to cope with it." Foster urged people feeling isolated to talk to friends or family and seek help, saying that sharing experiences revealed how common mental-health struggles are.
