Documentary exposes impact of poverty on mental health to screen at L.A. LIVE on Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Sept. 29, 2017 – Awareness Film Festival selected The Guidance Center’s documentary, “The Bridge: Pathways to a Trauma Informed Community,” to screen in its 2017 festival. The documentary is scheduled to screen at L.A. LIVE on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.

“The Bridge: Pathways to a Trauma Informed Community,” produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Matthew Murray, and The Guidance Center’s CEO, Patricia Costales, LCSW, challenges perceptions of poverty, exposes its devastating effects on mental health, and reveals the trauma-informed approach as a part of the wider solution to breaking poverty’s intergenerational cycle.

Because living in poverty often equates to housing instability, food insecurity, and inadequate access to resources, many children growing up in these circumstances lack the safety and security needed for healthy emotional development and general welfare, according to National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN).

The film explores these issues by telling the story of shared human experiences with poverty in two cities, one urban: Long Beach, and one rural: Avalon on Catalina Island. Through interviews with six families striving to break the intergenerational cycle and 11 concerned community leaders working to revolutionize the way institutions handle poverty, facts are humanized, numbers are turned into the faces they represent, and viewers are empowered with a trauma-informed lens in which to see those affected and help positively change the course of people’s lives for generations to come.

“The trauma-informed message is one that everyone needs to hear,” said Costales. “We’re honored that ‘The Bridge: Pathways to a Trauma Informed Community’ has been selected for Awareness Film Festival 2017. We look forward to sharing the film with festival goers and empowering more people to be the positive change they wish to see in their communities.”

Awareness Film Festival, which runs Oct. 5 to Oct. 15, showcases documentary and narrative features, as well as short films, music videos and public service announcements with the mission to inform and inspire audiences through a program of films on ecological, political, health, well-being and spiritual topics.

The festival is presented by Heal One World, a non-profit serving the community surrounding West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, and serves as a fundraiser for the non-profit’s community initiatives.

Tickets for the film festival are available at https://www.awarenessfestival.org.               

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About The Guidance Center

Established in 1946, The Guidance Center provides comprehensive mental health treatment to nearly 3,000 children and families in the communities of Long Beach, Lynwood, Compton, Paramount, San Pedro and Avalon annually. The Guidance Center offers individual, group and family therapy, crisis intervention, case management, community education and outreach, and intensive mental health treatment. Headquartered in Long Beach, The Guidance Center also has clinics in Compton and San Pedro. For more information on The Guidance Center, please visit www.tgclb.org.