Happymess
Solutions Towards Better Teenage Mental Health in America
Teenage mental health in America is at an all time low. This completed docuseries went looking for the people changing that, and found them. Every episode is now free on YouTube.
Happymess: Navigating Teenage Mental Health in AmericaDirected by Bear Wade · Produced with Eric Eastman
About the series
The name says it. Life can be happy and messy at the same time.
Happymess follows teenagers from across the country as they navigate depression, anxiety, social media pressure, sleep deprivation, discrimination, and more, and it refuses to stop at the problem. Alongside their stories, the series documents the educators, parents, policymakers, and programs building real answers.
Inside classrooms, homes, and school board rooms, the series captures safe spaces being created, coping skills being taught, and policies being rewritten to put emotional wellbeing on equal footing with everything else schools measure.
Most of all, it captures teenagers finding resilience they did not know they had. Happymess was made to change the narrative around what it means to have, and to support, mental health.
Watch free on YouTube
Four films. One message.
Connection is prevention. Each film follows a different corner of the teen mental health crisis, and the people proving that the right support changes everything.
Film 01
Finding Home: In Yourself, In Others
A young gay man's journey from family rejection and homelessness to chosen family, authenticity, and graduating against all odds. Given an ultimatum two months before graduation, conform or leave, he chose himself.
Film 02
Trigger Warning: From Crisis to Courage
A suicide attempt survivor's story of recovery, from the darkest moment of his life to learning to walk again, graduating, and pursuing a future in architecture. This film discusses suicide and self harm.
Film 03
Overtime: The Pressure to Perform
Inside the relentless world of student athletes: 6 AM wake-ups, five classes, three hours of practice, homework until 11:30 PM, and a culture where mistakes get you benched instead of taught.
Film 04
Messy Middle: Teen Identity and Belonging
Navigating LGBTQ+ identity, social media pressure, and the search for real connection in the space between childhood and adulthood, where the rules are unspoken and the pressure never logs off.
The filmmakers
Made by people who have lived close to this.
Executive Producer / Director
Bear Wade
Bear is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with more than two decades of storytelling behind him and a passion for magnifying underserved voices.
His landmark project, Paving The Way: The National Park-to-Park Highway, is a multi-award-winning two-part historical documentary that has aired on public television across the United States and Canada for over a decade. He also produced Reel Change for the Missouri Foundation for Health, spotlighting stories and solutions across the state.
Learn more at timetosizzle.com/hire.
Executive Producer / Producer
Eric Eastman
For over 23 years, Eric has been a teacher, coach, speaker, and advisor in biology and psychology.
Diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in 8th grade, Eric turned his own experience into a career of advocacy for students coping with mental health challenges.
His mission is to build connections between homes, schools, health care advocates, law enforcement, and communities throughout the United States.
Bring it to your community
Screen Happymess at your school.
The series was built to start conversations. If you are an educator, counselor, parent group, or community organization, we would love to help you host a screening and discussion.
Thank you
This series exists because of our supporters.
Happymess was made possible by the generosity of people who believed teenage mental health deserved a bigger spotlight.