Storytelling
& Culture Change

JED’s Storytelling and Culture Change initiative aims to enlist the power of storytelling to support emotional well-being and prevent suicide for teens and young adults.

JED has worked alongside entertainment media for more than 10 years and serves as a founding member of the Mental Health Storytelling Coalition.

We offer a range of support to encourage more varied, nuanced, accurate, and compelling youth mental health
stories in entertainment. These include:

Youth mental health panel discussions
Presentations and workshops for creators
Customized mental health story consulting at all stages of project development, backed by JED’s mental health experts and youth with lived experience
Script and narrative testing with JED’s cohort of Gen Z youth
Content development or curation to support screenings, resource hubs, and more
Tailored tip sheets
Industry dialogue and networking
Promotion and amplification

Get in touch form here

The Power of Stories

People sitting on a stage with microphones in hand talking — The Stories We Tell: Impact on Youth Mental Health, hosted by The Jed Foundation and The Television Academy. From left to right: Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, The Jed Foundation, Jeff Davis, Paramount’s Wolf Pack, Lang Fisher, Netflix’s Never Have I Ever; Courtney Knowles, Love is Louder and JED, Noopur Agarwal, MTV Entertainment Studios at Paramount Global.

Entertainment media and storytelling have a major impact on how we perceive and talk about mental health. They can captivate audiences while making them feel seen and supported. Sharing stories can reduce shame, prejudice, and secrecy, and inspire teens and young adults to be proactive about their mental health while supporting others. Stories can improve and save lives.

Mental health touches everyone’s lives, no matter their gender, sexuality, race, or background. In addition to stories about mental health conditions and suicide, we want to support narratives that show the full range of mental health experiences—from struggling to actively coping to thriving. We want to increase stories from underrepresented communities and showcase the issues that impact them and their mental health.

Every story can be a mental health story. By addressing the variety of ways mental health affects young people’s lives and our society as a whole, we can show generations how to prioritize their well-being, access tools to improve care, and support those around them.

More Storytelling Examples

Mental Health Storytelling Panel

JED teamed up with MTV Entertainment and the showrunners of Wolf Pack and Never Have I Ever to share tips and tools for creating youth mental health stories that resonate with and support them. Co-hosted by the Television Academy.

Watch the panel recording

JED Voices

JED Voices features intimate conversations with leading culture creators about what mental health means to them to inspire and encourage action with today’s teens and young adults.

Check it out