Wildflower…a conversation starter for the church on trauma and mental illness

Editor’s note: Michael Leaser is our special guest blogger today. Michael is with Faith Street Films and served as the executive producer of Wildflower, a recent theatrical release that explores the topic of post-traumatic stress from a decidedly Christian perspective. We’re pleased to help introduce the film to a larger audience. Here’s Michael…

Last week, Faith Street Films and Cave Pictures released the film, Wildflower, a psychological thriller that also serves as a powerful conversation starter on mental health and trauma issues. It tells the story of college student Chloe Moray (Nathalia Ramos, House of Anubis), who finds solace from a difficult childhood in her extraordinary art. But when an alarming dream begins to recur nightly, she starts to believe it might be a suppressed memory and that she may have witnessed a terrible crime as a little girl. Her search for peace takes her on a journey that forces her to confront her past traumas and leads her to cross paths with Josh (Cody Longo, Nashville), a young man dealing with his own painful loss. Together they find in each other someone they can trust as they seek to unlock a decade-old cold case.

The film’s producers are partnering with Key Ministry and other mental health organizations to help bring awareness to these issues and to help lead individuals struggling with mental illness and trauma, along with their loved ones, to the resources and assistance they need to lead as full and healthy a life as possible. At wildflowerthemovie.com/resources, you can find a group discussion guide and links to resource partner websites, including Key Ministry. There is also a video of a Wildflower mental health panel discussion, led by Pastor Matthew Schlesinger of Grace Church in Oceanside, California, that includes representatives from the Mental Health Grace Alliance and the National Alliance on Mental Illness and covers the film’s mental health themes and how people can effectively address mental health concerns for themselves or for loved ones within their families, churches, and communities.

Wildflower is available to rent or purchase here, or at Walmart and all Lifeway and Family Christian stores.

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Key Ministry encourages our readers to check out the resources we’ve developed to help pastors, church leaders, volunteers and families to better understand the nature of trauma in children and teens, Jolene Philo’s series on PTSD in children, and series on other mental health-related topics, including series on the impact of ADHD, anxiety and Asperger’s Disorder on spiritual development in kids, depression in children and teens, pediatric bipolar disorder, and ten strategies for promoting mental health inclusion at church.