An internship helped turn Rose Broll into a documentary filmmaker. Her largely single-handed cinematic endeavor, “Outagamie County Mental Health Court: From Incarceration to Inspiration,” receives a public screening Thursday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. at Riverview Gardens, 1101 S. Oneida St., Appleton.
The 55-minute film examines the new court’s mission, the prevalence of mental health’s role in crime and celebrates its first graduate, who completed the program last August. It features interviews with program participants, police and parole officers, judges and mental health counselors.
Following the screening, Broll, Outagamie County judges Gregory Gill, Jr. and Dee Dyer, and other members of the court team, will participant in a panel discussion about the court’s mission. The screening and discussion is sponsored by NAMI Fox Valley. To register, contact Kate Kirchner, 920-832-5474 or katherine.kirchner@outagamie.org.
Following an internship with the court, in which she worked with program participants on art projects, Broll, a senior psychology major from Minneapolis, was asked to create a film about the court and its operations. She spent six months working on the documentary interviewing various people associated with the program and editing her footage. The film includes music performed by some of the program’s participants.
Started in July, 2012, the Mental Health Court, one of only two in Wisconsin, deals with non-violent criminals with mental health issues. It is designed to decriminalize mental illness and connect participants with community resources. Court offenders typically require one year to complete the program, which includes a treatment plan, 100 percent sobriety and some form of community service.
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