Working Like Crazy
By Gwynne Basen & Laura Sky

An estimated 85 percent of people labeled "mentally ill" are unemployed, and often viewed as incapable of working: hopeless, helpless, maybe dangerous besides. Working Like Crazy challenges these stereotypes. This is a fresh, engaging look at the struggles and victories of six former mental health patients. Though once labeled "unemployable," they now work in businesses run and staffed by other psychiatric survivors: places where they can make a living, rebuild their lives, connect with others, and contribute to society. From tears to laughter, isolation to friendship, rejection to acceptance, their stories offer an illuminating glimpse of this complex community.

54 minutes
© 1999
Purchase $199 DVD
Order No. QA-333

Reviews
"Highly recommended. It demonstrates the hidden intelligence of psychiatric survivors and it provides a novel approach to providing factual information. Recommended for sociology, psychology, and health science classes." MC Journal

"Achieves a filmic beauty rare in the average documentary. In a mere one hour we are given brief, penetrating access to these people's lives and, in these moments, experience through them both joy and terrible sadness." Lynn Crosbie in Eye, TV

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To rent or purchase this film, please visit the Icarus Films website

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