{"id":75533,"date":"2023-02-28T10:22:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T16:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.dev\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=75533"},"modified":"2025-10-15T15:01:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T20:01:37","slug":"why-do-we-need-sel-new-film-the-son-explores-the-youth-mental-health-crisis","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/why-do-we-need-sel-new-film-the-son-explores-the-youth-mental-health-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do We Need SEL? New Film \u201cThe Son\u201d Explores the Youth Mental Health Crisis\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li> In Florian Zeller\u2019s new feature film, <em>The Son<\/em>, the story of one family lays bare the global mental health crisis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While SEL isn\u2019t a substitute for mental health services, <em>The Son <\/em>implicitly identifies the valuable role that SEL can play in early intervention and preventing poor mental health reaching crisis point.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CASEL and others are proving that SEL integrated into supportive school environments can tangibly break stigmas and taboos around mental health, increase mental health literacy, and create safe environments for young people to share their truth and reach out for help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The power of art can often be to show our shortcomings and our needs. In Florian Zeller\u2019s feature film, <em>The Son<\/em>, the story of one family lays bare the global mental health crisis, and the urgent need to provide tools and support for young people to manage complex emotions and internal challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While SEL isn\u2019t a substitute for mental health services, <em>The Son <\/em>implicitly identifies the valuable role that SEL can play in early intervention and preventing poor mental health reaching crisis point. With no such support, the film\u2019s teenage character Nicholas continuously skips school, feeling out of place and unsafe. Warning signs are then missed, and his acute depression starts to get out of control.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Son<\/em> is the second film in writer-director Florian Zeller\u2019s powerful family trilogy series. Starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, and Anthony Hopkins, the film heartrendingly captures Nicholas\u2019 family wrestling with their limitations as they try to help their teenage son.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the film, Nicholas and his family are lost in a state of uncertainty and confusion, struggling to communicate with one another and desperately trying to fix a situation of pain that none of them fully understand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actor Zen McGrath reflected on Nicholas\u2019s pain, stating, \u201cA lot of times, in real cases you don\u2019t know why you are going through a crisis, and that could really add to the anxiety because you don\u2019t know why something is going wrong.\u201d<em> <\/em>These words encapsulate the experience of millions of young people worldwide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by this theme, we and the production team behind <em>The Son <\/em>are eager to accelerate access to tools and resources that can vitally help young people understand and communicate their mental health needs. Tools that could have helped Nicholas and his family, and possibly averted the central tragedy of their story.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critically, we are mobilizing structural support for SEL in school curricula. CASEL and others are proving that SEL integrated into supportive school environments can tangibly break stigmas and taboos around mental health, increase mental health literacy, and create safe environments for young people to share their truth and reach out for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2023 is the European Union Year of Skills. In the U.S., the Biden Administration\u2019s Mental Health Initiative is expanding access to mental health resources in schools to ensure qualified support and providers are available for students. Implementation of SEL complements both of these initiatives by beginning conversations on mental health earlier in youth educational curricula.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florian Zeller\u2019s vision for <em>The Son<\/em> is to open a conversation about mental health. This is a vital conversation that will be empowered and amplified by providing young people everywhere with access to SEL. We encourage policymakers and education leaders to watch <em>The Son<\/em> and join the change by supporting and resourcing SEL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Amy Shepherd is Chief Operating Officer at Think-Film Impact Production, an award-winning team of creative strategists who work with incredible filmmakers and storytellers to impact society and drive forward change where it matters most. Amy\u2019s film impact credits include THE SON (See-Saw, Film4), Bafta-winning NAVALNY (CNN Films), Oscar-shortlisted THE TERRITORY (National Geographic), DARK WATERS (Participant Media) and iHuman (UpNorth).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/sel-through-art-the-get-to-know-me-project\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEL Through Art: The Get to Know Me Project<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/sel-and-black-youth-mental-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEL and Black Youth Mental Health<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/ai-sel-the-mental-health-crisis-how-can-we-leverage-new-tech-to-meet-the-moment-and-what-are-the-risks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI + SEL &amp; The Mental Health Crisis: How Can We Leverage New Tech to Meet the Moment? (and What Are the Risks?)&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Back to top The power of art can often be to show our shortcomings and our needs. In Florian Zeller\u2019s feature film, The Son, the story of one family lays bare the global mental health crisis, and the urgent need to provide tools and support for young people to manage complex emotions and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26603,"featured_media":75536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[200],"class_list":["post-75533","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-viewpoints"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/75533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=75533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}