Tips & Guidelines for Creating and Delivering an ETS Presentation

1. Ask yourself these three questions for each slide.

These questions are designed to help you create an engaging, unique and effective presentation.

1. How can I briefly restate the key points in my own words? 2. How can I engage youth? 3. How can I use examples from my lived experience to illustrate the key points?

You don’t have a script for this presentation. Instead, you have a few key points for each slide that you need to cover. Use your own words, engage teens and personalize your presentation with examples from your life. You won’t have the time to include your experiences and engage youth during every slide, but your goal should be to share as much as possible without going over 25 minutes.

2. Be CONCISE!

Brief, specific examples have a greater impact on teens, so keep your message concise when you’re creating your talking points. This is especially important when sharing examples from your lived experience. On average, use about one minute to present each slide. This will help you keep their attention and complete your presentation within the 25-minute timeframe.

3. Remember the purpose of NAMI Ending the Silence.

The purpose of NAMI Ending the Silence is to:

o Raise mental health awareness. o Reduce the stigma

ETS isn’t about teaching young people all there is to know about mental health conditions. You’re making a great difference just by raising mental health awareness and reducing stigma in the process. As we know, stigma is the biggest reason people don’t seek treatment. Remember that you’re also leaving youth with the resource card which has great resources teens can turn to after the presentation for more support and information. 4. Use relatable lived-experience.

One of the best ways to keep youth engaged is to emphasize the key points with examples from your own lived experience. Your presentation will be more effective if you share examples that teens can relate to.

Below are a few questions to help you think about relatable examples from your lived experience:

o What were you or your family member like in high school? o What were the early warning signs you or your family member experienced? o Did a friend or a trusted adult play an important role in you or your family

member seeking help? o What role did/does you or your family member’s friends play in your/their

recovery? 5. Use words that can be understood by everyone.

When you use simple, short words, you’ll help youth better understand your message. Long words, technical words and slang only distract people from your overall message. If you do use a more technical word like manic, it’s important to describe what manic looks and feels like. This will help teens better relate to your experiences. 6. Don’t read the slides.

What you say should expand on the slide content, not repeat exactly what’s written on them. Teens will read the slides on their own. If you read the slides, you’ll lose your audience and they won’t absorb the messages you’re trying to communicate. Instead, use the slides to help you pace yourself and as a reminder for what you want to say 7. Project your voice.

When you’re speaking, try to project your voice—speak loudly and clearly enough that even people in the back of the room can hear you. It’s a good idea to ask your audience if you’re speaking loudly and clearly enough.

8. Use effective non-verbal communication.

Eye contact can be challenging, but it’s worth practicing. Don’t look directly at your slides or your notes. Instead, use them as a reference tool and only look at them briefly when you need to. You can keep teens engaged and interested in what you’re saying with good eye contact, a straight, open-body position, hand movements that support your words and by moving among the audience in a relaxed, natural way instead of standing still in one location.

9. Slow down.

Share only as much information as you can while still speaking clearly and at a relaxed pace. If you can’t engage and connect with teens, it almost doesn’t matter what you say. Spend less time talking at youth and more time interacting with them.

10. Know your material.

Practice is essential. When you know your talking points well, you’ll feel relaxed and you can focus on engaging your audience. When you’re familiar with the information and services available on the resource card websites, you can answer questions better and direct teens to the best resource for them. It’s important that you draw attention to the resource card as often as possible during your presentation and the Q & A session. If you help teens see the value in these resources, it’s more likely that they’ll use them to help themselves or a friend.

ETS PPT Presentation Talking Points Worksheet

Block 1: Slides 1—7

Key Points

• Give an enthusiastic introduction for yourself and the other presenter.

• The purpose of this presentation is to dispel myths and “end the silence” surrounding mental health.

• Disclaimer: We are NOT psychiatrists and not social workers. But we are experts in our own and our family member’s experiences living with a mental health condition. We call this the “lived experience.”

Talking Points

Key Points

• Interactive Component: After the video has ended. By a show of hands, how many of you know someone who is living with a mental health condition? Next, instruct the class to look around and remind them that although it may feel like it sometimes, they are never alone. As we just saw, many of your lives are affected by mental health conditions. So, let’s talk about it.

• The videos in this presentation were created entirely by high school students as a part of the Directing Change project in California

Talking Points

Key Points

• We all have mental health, just like we all have physical health

• When we’re mentally healthy, we feel well and do well

• Provide an example of what a healthy mind looks like

• Just like with physical health, we must work at having a healthy mind

Talking Points

Key Points

• Mental health conditions are medical illnesses, like any other physical illness

• It’s not anyone’s fault or something to be ashamed of. Anyone can have a mental health condition

• A mental health condition doesn’t have to limit your ability to achieve your goals

Talking Points

Interactive Component: Ask the group leader to pick a number between 1 and 5. Ask all teens who have an index card with the number the group leader chose to stand up. Explain that this represents the national statistic that 1 in 5 will experience a mental health condition in a given year. Ask half of all the students standing up to sit down. Those left standing represent the 50% of youth ages 8-15 who are not receiving treatment. Move to next slide.

Talking Points

Talking Points

Key Points

• NAMI uses statistics released from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

• Mental illness is common

• Many people don’t get help

• The biggest reason people don’t get help is stigma

Key Points

• Many people think that people with mental health conditions are more dangerous or violent—this is an example of stigma. The truth is, people with mental health conditions are more likely to be victims of violence.

• Interactive Component: How do you think stigma affects people with a mental health condition? Possible answers include: It makes them unhappy; they may not be able to get a job, or it may prevent someone from seeking help; it may cause them to lose their friends.

Talking Points

Block 2: Slides 8—14

Key Points

• Everyone feels anxious or sad sometimes, but if it lasts more than two weeks or if it’s getting in the way of your daily activities, talk to someone you trust

• These warning signs may indicate that a person is experiencing mental health challenges

• Provide CONCISE examples that illustrate some of these warning signs

Talking Points

Key Points

• Provide CONCISE examples that illustrate some of these warning signs

• Not eating, throwing up or using laxatives to lose weight, repeated use of alcohol or drugs and self-harm like cutting are negative coping strategies and don’t correct the underlying issues

• If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition, it’s important to tell a trusted adult. Don’t keep warning signs a secret

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• Interactive Component: Why do you think it’s important to talk to someone if you or someone you know is showing warning signs?

• There are many resources you can turn to for support and information (direct teens’ attention to resource card)

• Mention any mental health resources available at their school, including counselors, nurses, school psychiatrists and/or school social workers etc

Talking Points

Key Points

• Suicide is complicated—it isn’t caused by just one event like a breakup, a fight with a friend or a bad grade

• Suicide is often caused by an underlying mental health condition, which can prevent someone from thinking clearly and rationally

• You can’t always tell when someone is thinking about suicide—sometimes these warning signs can be subtle

• Provide CONCISE examples that illustrate some of these warning signs

• Trust your instincts—you know your friends better than anyone. If something with your friend doesn’t seem right, they may not be thinking about suicide, but they still may need your help

Talking Points

Key Points

• If you or a friend is showing warning signs of suicide, tell a trusted adult or call the National Suicide Lifeline immediately

• Interactive Component: Who could you go to if you or a friend had thoughts of suicide?

• Asking someone if they’re thinking about suicide won’t put thoughts of suicide in their head or increase the risk of suicide. Asking this direct question is important, especially if you know your friend is going through a hard time

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

When presenting in a school with a recent suicide:

• Many times, suicide can be prevented, but not always

• Sometimes warning signs aren’t easy to recognize—even mental health professionals don’t always know when someone is thinking about suicide

• We can’t control someone else’s behavior

• The death of your friend/classmate is not your fault

Talking Points

Block 3: Slides 15—25

Key Points

• Interactive Component: What do you think happens when people don’t get treatment for symptoms of a mental health condition? Possible answers include: symptoms get worse, hurts relationships, alcohol or drugs to hide symptoms.

• The good news is mental health conditions are TREATABLE

• There are many different types of treatment; you just need to find what works best for you

• The earlier you seek treatment, the better

Talking Points

Key Points

• Interactive Component: We all feel stressed, nervous or sad sometimes. What are some of the positive things you do to make yourself feel better during these times?

• Healthy coping strategies, like eating right and getting enough sleep, are

important for everyone, but critical for people with a mental health

condition

• Positive coping strategies can be used to replace any negative coping strategies

• Developing effective coping strategies are essential to improving and maintaining mental health

Talking Points

Key Points

• Begin by pausing a few seconds to allow the youth time to take these images in.

• Many people with mental health conditions like the ones you may recognize from this slide are able to live well and to succeed

• A mental health condition doesn’t have to limit your ability to achieve your goals and to live the life you want to live

• It’s important never to give up hope

• Note: the supplemental information resource includes the names and diagnoses of each celebrity.

Talking Points

Key Points

• The most important way you can help a friend is to recognize the warning signs and encourage your friend to tell a trusted adult if they’re showing these signs

• Share the resources on your resource card

• It’s easy; just be a good friend

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• Now that you know the truth about mental health conditions, each one of you

has the power to help eliminate the misunderstanding, lack of acceptance and

the stigma surrounding mental health conditions

• OK2TALK.org is an online community for teens to talk about mental health and give people hope by sharing personal stories and inspirational messages

• Interactive component: After listening to this presentation, what’s one thing you personally will do to reduce the stigma associated with mental health conditions?

Talking Points

Key Points

• Go through each point in your own words

• Point out that the beginning of the next video doesn’t have any sound

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• None

Talking Points

Key Points

• Introduce your co-presenter.

Talking Points