KONO 1

James Kono
Zack De Piero
10-29-14
Analysis of Written Artifacts from the Mental Wellness Center
I wasnt able to acquire any writing artifacts directly from a representative I
emailed from the Mental Wellness Center of Santa Barbara. So instead, I browsed their
website and found multiple artifacts I felt supplemented. I found a press release, a guide
to helping others deal with mental illness, and a list of ways to help support someone
with depression.
One of the artifacts is a press release requesting volunteers needed to help with
the Mental Health Arts Festival in Santa Barbara. This year was the 19th annual Mental
Health Arts Festival. They needed volunteers to help set up, hand out flyers, and artist
support. This festival showcases much of the artwork of our community members who
are living with mental illness and is an event that reduces the stigma of mental illness.
This artifact is short and to the point. It gives a brief description of the Mental
Wellness Center and the purpose of their work. It provides information for the event and
contact information for the center. Was the purpose of the press release to encourage and
attract people to volunteer in this event? If so, the writing is flavorless. The way it was
written left a bland, dry, tastelessness. It seems the Mental Health Arts Festival is
supposed to be a positive, bright, and vivid event. This writing artifact came across
mundane and unenthusiastic. Or was the purpose more focused on those already
interested in volunteer work and simply need the basic information of the festival? If the
latter is so, the artifact is sufficient. Unlike the press release, the Mental Health SOS
Guide is vibrant and youthful.

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The guide is an artifact that I found to be much more effective. It appears as a
guide and functions as one. When I say youthful I mean the guide seems more userfriendly. This artifact is titled SOS Rethink Mental Illness: Your Starter Guide to Mental
Illness. The title printed in white on a bright emergency-medical-red cover. The guide
introduces itself with an, About This Guide, section, a concise explanation of its
purpose. It offers practical advice on recognizing the distress signals and helps you know
when to act. The guide speaks about its credibility and purpose in the, Who We Are,
section. Rethink Mental Illness is a charity that believes a better life is possible for
millions of people affected by mental illness. Based in England, this organization
supports almost 60,000 people every year to get through crises.
I say this artifact is very user-friendly, because each chapter is broken down into
smaller parts. For example, the second chapter, My Brother Was Really Distant, is
divided into 5 parts. Part I, there was a quotation coming from the older sister and a
summary of the situation. The reader is given an example of how her brother was being
distant. Parts II-V of the chapters are; What You Can Do What You Might Say
What You Might Do In a Crisis What If Its Not a Crisis each giving multiple
examples or suggestions.
Each chapter is focused on different areas of mental illness; suicide, psychosis,
self-harm, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders. At the end of the guide there is a
seemingly endless list of resources for the reader; URLs for more information, multiple
support-hotlines, and information on other organizations. Like I said, this guide is very
user-friendly, functional, and effective. My last artifact is functional like the guide, yet
this artifact appears less effective.

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This last article is titled, 9 Best Ways to Support Someone With Depression. It
is much more specific and narrowly focused than the starter guide. Basically, this artifact
is a list of 9 suggestions dealing with someone with depression. 1. Be there. 2. Try a
small gesture. 3. Dont judge or criticize So on and so forth. When comparing the
starter guide and this list, I get a feeling that the list is for a parent of a child struggling
with depression and the guide is for someone who has a peer, friend, or sibling,
struggling. The list is quick and effective, but it lacks given situations. It has
recommendations and gives reasons to support these recommendations. The artifact has
credibility, its a list of valuable strategies suggested by Deborah Serani, PsyD, a
psychologist who has struggled with depression herself. This artifact is less colorful, less
noticeable, and less bold, but you can argue its just as effective as the SOS guide.
It is apparent these artifacts all had different purposes, audiences, tones, etc.
Through the analysis of these 3 written artifacts, it is much more clear what you are
asking for in the final paper. Like they say in that one famous book, I once was lost, but
now I am found. LOL. I sure hope to interview a representative of the Mental Wellness
Center, because I found a much deeper and meaningful interest in the work they do.