Stand
Up For Mental Health Ottawa Program - 2010 Details TBA
Screening:
Each potential student undergoes a screening interview to make sure he or she
meets the criteria for participation in Stand Up For Mental Health. Participants
must
• Have a mental health illness or mental health issues
• Have stable housing
• A support system of both peers and professionals
• Be stable on any medication they are taking
• Have a reasonable command of written and spoken English
• Have the motivation and desire to create healthy change
• And above all else, have a desire to do stand up comedy.
Initial Three Month Course And Showcases
Classes:
Classes take place once a week on Tuesday afternoons from 1-4 p.m. Students learn how to write, perform, structure and edit a comedy act of between 3-6 minutes.
Coaching:
Each student receives one-to-one coaching with the instructor as needed.
Materials:
Each student receives the Stand-Up Comedy Clinic workbook and CDs. This workbook is adapted from the Stand-Up Comedy Clinic course David Granirer has taught at Langara College for the past nine years.
Warm Up Shows:
After approximately three months of classes, the students do their first shows. We choose venues where we know the audience will be super supportive.
In
Ottawa, Stand Up For Mental Health is partnered with Psychiatric Survivors of
Ottawa
Currently we have 7 great comics: Sonja Cronkhite,
Heather Bruce, Simon Perkins, Julie Gagnon, Nancy Kelley, Sandra Withers, and
Donald Schultz.
We are very happy to work with David Granirer, who
has taught, encouraged us, and helped us develop our comedy acts to a higher levels
of funniness!
Our goal is to bring laughter and tears to all of our audiences.
Doing comedy about our mental health issues helps us all to recover and thrive.
After all, laughter is the best medicine!
Come on out and help us have
fun! We are the greatest stigma busters in the East!! Have you got a beef with
your mental health and want to learn how to laugh about it? --we want you,
eh!!
Stuff we’ve done: United
Way fundraiser at Absolute Comedy
2 Stand Up For Mental Health fundraisers
at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa. The last one in November 2006 featrured Mary
Walsh and Mike MacDonald.
We’ve also been on CBC Ottawa Morning,
Ontario Today, CBC TV, and in the Ottawa Citizen, Express, Ottawa Sun.
We’re also available to do shows at your events. We’re perfect for AGMs,
public education events, staff/volunteer appreciation events, team days. Our shows
are not only hilarious and inspiring, but also a great form of education for the
general public and mental health professionals.
For more information
What we’re doing now: Thanks to sponsorship from Canada Post, we are now training a new group of 10 comics. They and the Ottawa Alumni comics will be doing shows on:
May 7, 2009 - 7pm - Brockville, Ontario
Sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association,
Leeds Grenville Branch.
Tickets $5.00
Brockville Collegiate Institute, 90 Pearl Street East.
Call (613)-345-0950 ext 5105
May 8, 2009 - 7pm - Ottawa, Ontario
Bronson Centre,
Tickets $5.00 if you admit you’re crazy $10.00 if you don’t.
Call Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa (613) 567-4379 or
Collected Works (613) 722-1265
Stand Up For Mental Health Day on Parliament Hill.
This show features our Ottawa alumni comics. We will be performing for and schmoozing with MPs, Senators and Staff. This is a non-partisan Event, jointly sponsored by all Parties.
May 12, 2009 - 6 pm - Ottawa Ontario
Room 200 West Block, Parliament Hill.
Our
Ottawa comics with Mary Walsh
Left
to right: David, Nancy, Julie, Mary Walsh, Sonja, Heather and Simon
