institutionalization
We Are All In This Together
Posted July 19th, 2007 by GretjenProduced by the Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services (COMHAR) & Scribe Video Center
Sharon Mullally
In the United States, 1 in 5 people suffer from mental illness at one point in their life and another 7.5 million people are mentally retarded. Until the 1970's, many of those with the greatest needs were housed in government institutions. But when those institutions were slowly closed due to either inhumane conditions or new governmental funding priorities, many found themselves in living in group homes or with their loving, but often ill-equipped families.
Founded in 1975, Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services (COMHAR) helps people of all ages and cultures in the community who have developmental disabilities, mental health concerns, physical limitations and other challenges. Though this video focuses on a COMHAR branch serving three North Philadelphia neighborhoods, COMHAR provides assistance at home and a broad array of services at multiple COMHAR locations throughout Greater Philadelphia and lower Montgomery County.
Sharon Mullally began her career with 10 years in staff positions at broadcast television stations in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Since leaving the commercial broadcast industry to pursue documentary work, Sharon has edited several national PBS programs for WHYY-TV 12 in Philadelphia, including The Dinosaurs!, Furniture on the Mend, and Remember When. For her editorial work on Yearbook--The Class of '65, produced by Fox Philadelphia, she received an Emmy Award in 1996. Recent editorial work includes I Witness, a one-hour documentary on the anti-abortion violence in Pensacola, Our Food Our Future, a look at community food projects, and Daring to Resist, a beautiful and compelling portrait of three young women who resisted the Holocaust. All three of these programs have been shown on public television.
As Producer/Director, Sharon has just completed Rufus Jones: A Luminous Life, a documentary on a visionary American Quaker. She has also completed New Voices, a documentary on women moving from welfare to work; Peace Theater and Building a Peaceful Community, teaching self-respect and conflict resolution skills to children; Walk With Me, Sisters (winner of the Silver Apple Award from the National Educational Media Network), for women with HIV; and Connecting the Pieces: A City's Response to the AIDS Quilt. Sharon has also maintained an active role as an instructor, teaching media literacy to middle school children in Philadelphia. She has taught editing classes at Scribe Video Center.
February 5, 1993 - "Premiere of New Community Programs," Scoop U.S.A. newspaper
February 8, 1993 - "Expressing Themselves," The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 10, 1993 - Community Visions premiere at Neighborhood Film/Video Project at International House (Philadelphia, PA)
