Joanna Prabhu

Breakout Facilitator at the 2017 Teen Wellness Conference

Breaking Down Media Portrayals of Mental Illness

BREAKOUT SESSION
Lights, Camera, Action: Today's Mental Health on Screens
Co-facilitator: Peying Lee
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Do TV shows and social media shape our perceptions and sense of reality? How does reality manifest on shows and apps? In the last few years, we have been making great strides in promoting awareness and conversations about mental health and illnesses. Since the media is increasingly ever-present and a huge source of education about mental health illnesses, it is vital to decipher facts from fiction. In this break-out group, we will be reflecting over both positive and negative portrayals of mental health in the media. Join us in a dialogue about how we as an audience can question and analyze them. 

BIO
Pronouns: she, her, hers

Joanna Prabhu (known as Jozy) is a class of 2015 alumni of Palo Alto High School, and currently an incoming junior at San Jose State University pursuing her BS in Journalism. After overcoming her own mental health hurdles in high school, Jozy is now an advocate for mental health and breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. 
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Jozy is a member of a Palo Alto alumni initiative called WOPAC (Wellness & Openness in the Palo Alto Community) that promotes dialogue between students, teachers, and parents of the Palo Alto community. She has been on panels and been a moderator in dialogue events hosted by WOPAC as well. Jozy has also recently been a volunteer and community advisor for the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing. She hopes that one day the stigma revolving mental health will cease to exist, and that there will be greater education and understanding of mental health in the future.​