KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City area filmmaker Ebrima Abraham Sisay is putting people suffering from mental illness at the forefront and letting them know they're not alone.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness and one in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness.
One in six children between the ages of 6 to 17 also experiences a mental health disorder.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among children 10-14, and the third leading cause of death for those who are 15-24 years old.
It's the reason Sisay started The Freedom Project and Forum, which highlights, advocates and works to change the stigma surrounding mental health, through storytelling.
"The goal is to go out and tell other people's story, including my story and then be able to reach other people," Sisay said.
Sisay decided to share his story about two-and-a-half years ago.
"I played soccer at a very young age and the goal was to become a soccer player," Sisay said. "Somewhere along that journey, I was also getting molested by one of our coaches, and then everything went south when I saw one of my friends drown in front of me and when that happened is when I started experiencing panic attacks, and then just basically all the things I was going through."
Sisay was 11-years-old.
"I could not identify why this was happening because the person that was doing the molestation was someone that was very respected, and to me that was confusing because everybody was saying great things about this individual, but here I am," Sisay said. "I am experiencing something totally different."
After publishing and sharing his story, 'INHALE! EXHALE! We All Have Mental Health', several of his old teammates reached out.
"They were like, 'this was happening to me too,' Sisay said. "So imagine all of us dealing with that and didn't know how to communicate that because we're all just young boys and we didn't know how to come out and speak on that."
Sisay says he wants to make sure kids have the resources they need to speak up, and know there are professionals to talk with.
"I genuinely want other people to experience what I experienced when I went to therapy," Sisay said. "All the trauma that I went through and some of the unfortunate things that I experienced, I didn't have anyone telling me that this is not your fault."
Through forums, hosting listening sessions, mental health awareness events or sharing a person's story on camera, Sisay wants to create a safe space for people to be seen and heard.
"What I've seen so far, is people have been impacted," CMO of Freedom Project, Joseantonio Guillen said. "It's definitely a safe space, it's a place not to feel judged because nothing is too big, nothing is too small to not talk about."
Sisay hopes through these conversations, more people will open up about their mental health and also give themselves grace.
"I just want people to be conscious with the things they consume everyday, the things they watch how they treat other people and what they say to themselves," he said.
To learn more about getting involved with the Freedom Project, click here.
