Sugar Coated is a collaborative youth-produced social justice documentary film created by high school students across New York City participating in EVC’s flagship program. Eating disorders are a mental health issue and have the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis, outranked only by opioid disorders. Why hasn’t this been said publicly? How does mental health correlate with eating disorders? How can you cope with mental health issues during a pandemic? How has living through the pandemic increased mental health and eating disorders? 97 percent of individuals hospitalized for an eating disorder were also diagnosed with a mood disorder. Many people in New York City are not concerned about living a healthier lifestyle. In this documentary, we will present how mental health correlates with eating disorders.

The story first introduces mental health issues by showing its history. Then, we show how it evolved over the pandemic. The segments included are different perspectives from a healthcare professional and a mental health advocate, interviews from individuals with personal experiences with eating disorders and mental health diagnoses. We also feature anonymous stories and how social media has an effect on teen mental health. Within our film we profile our classmate, Dulce as she talks about her struggle with an eating disorder. We also created an anonymous survey so everyone can share their story as this topic is not often wanted to be disclosed. One of our interviewees is therapist Laura Van Wyk who also had a personal experience battling her own mental health issues. We present statistics on mental health for our audience to see how important this topic is.

When watching this documentary people will get a deeper understanding about how mental health correlates with eating disorders. People will know that they’re not alone and mental health should be normalized. Our hope is that this documentary helps others seek help for their mental health disorders. Eating disorders are a real life issue, and people can use this documentary as an example to find support. While this documentary is generally for everybody, it is mostly for teenagers who feel like they’ve been ignored, parents whose children have been struggling with eating disorders , and people who haven’t been through mental health issues to understand others who have. People are going to be interested in seeing this documentary because it includes personal stories and is created by students.