Ken Burns-produced film includes Vermonters talking about youth mental health

Samantha Fisher has confronted mental-health challenges all her life.

“I think I’ve always had strong feelings all the time,” said Fisher, who as a child in Brattleboro would run around the house and smack her head into walls because she couldn’t find the words to express herself. “They never really went away. I dealt with issues about being angry all the time.”

Fisher, now 23, said she is still dealing with mental-health challenges, but she’s in a better place. She also wants to help other young people who might be going through similar troubles.

That’s a reason why she took part in “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness.” The two-part film led by executive producer and renowned documentary filmmaker Ken Burns features more than 20 young people across America living with mental-health challenges.

“Hiding in Plain Sight” airs Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28 on PBS.

“I hope it opens up the conversation to mental health and it starts to remove the stigma around it,” Fisher said of the film. “I hope it makes people understand their value no matter what they’re going through, and that they deserve kindness and compassion.”

Changing her mindset

Fisher dealt with anger even before her parents’ divorce, but said that only made her anger worse. In 9th grade, Fisher said, she was sexually assaulted, and had to sit in her high-school class across from her assailant.

“My anger stopped manifesting as anger and started manifesting as, ‘We can never leave the house, we can never trust anybody,’” Fisher said. She stopped going to school and was in and out of the Brattleboro Retreat mental-health hospital.

Fisher planned an attempt on her life in early 2018, she said, but her mother found out and stopped her. Fisher spent several months in the outpatient Brattleboro Retreat program known as the Birches and saw a therapist twice a week.

“I’d say my mental health is still all the same. The only thing that’s weirdly changed is my mindset around it,” Fisher said. “I’ve come to treat myself with more kindness and compassion.”

Before she got the help she needed, she had trouble finding someone to talk to about her mental-health challenges. One person she turned to was Ricky Davidson, who when Fisher was a teen worked at the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro where she would often hang out. Davidson knew one of the writers working on “Hiding in Plain Sight” and asked Fisher if she would share her story for the project.

“If Ricky’s telling me to show up, I’ll turn up, I’ll be there,” Fisher said. “I’ve never really been shy about talking about my mental health.”

Film coincides with impacts of COVID-19

Davidson, 54, is now a student-assistance counselor at Brattleboro Union High School. In his youth, he said, he struggled with depression, anxiety and substance misuse. He got into the field of counseling because he wanted to be the adult he felt was not there for him in his youth.

Like Fisher, Davidson takes part in “Hiding in Plain Sight.” He hopes the message viewers get from the film is the importance of communication. He wants there “not to be a stigma attached to mental-health needs so young people feel they have somebody to talk to,” he said, “and have somebody to talk to who reacts in a way that’s helpful and supportive.”

Most of “Hiding in Plain Sight” was made before the isolation that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Mental-health experts say the fallout from the pandemic is exacerbating the challenges many young people were already facing.

“I think it’s almost cosmic timing,” Fisher said of “Hiding in Plain Sight” airing as discussion of those new challenges increases.

The film does touch upon the impact COVID has had on youth mental health, according to Davidson. He said some young people whose formative years have been spent trying to make connections on a computer screen are having trouble connecting in a real-life classroom or hallway where they can’t just shut a camera off to escape an unpleasant situation. He said he has seen those frustrations manifest in increased arguments, threats and physical altercations.

“Even though we had issues to deal with and we had young people struggling, that got worse because of COVID, and we need to realize that,” Davidson said.

'A Vermont girl at heart'

Davidson said “Hiding in Plain Sight” is important because young people are making themselves vulnerable by telling their painful stories and it’s also empowering to hear those stories. It lets adults not just hear but listen to what the young people in the film have to say, according to Davidson.

“I feel like this is really an important film for people to see and understand,” he said.

Fisher continues to deal with her mental-health issues. She can’t live by herself because she’s likely to forget to eat. “I like being alone rather than being lonely,” Fisher said.

She has moved to Amarillo, Texas, to live with a sister, even though it pains her to leave her home state. “I’m a Vermont girl at heart and I will die a Vermont girl at heart,” Fisher said.

Though she’s still finding her way, Fisher has a positive story to tell about her mental-health journey. She works full-time as an assistant teacher for toddlers at a Montessori school. She’s studying child psychology online through Southern New Hampshire University because she wants to become a counselor for children.

“I never thought I could do it, but I’ve had some experiences at this point,” Fisher said. “I can put aside my little anxieties if it’s going to help children be able to untangle their thoughts.”

If you watch

WHAT: “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness”

WHEN: 9 p.m. Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28

WHERE: PBS

INFORMATION: www.pbs.org

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck