Two films will soon be screened in Lewis County, touching on important social issues affecting the area’s youth.
On Sunday, the Cispus Learning Center and Morton and White Pass school districts will sponsor a free screening of the documentary “Paper Tigers.”
The screening will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Roxy Theater in Morton.
The documentary focuses on the benefits of Trauma Informed Communities, a movement focused on healing youth who struggle with adverse childhood experiences.
It focuses on the lives of students and teachers at Lincoln High School in Walla Walla.
According to a press release, the exposure to chronic and adverse stress leaves a child in a search for comfort and escape from a brain and body that is stuck in flight or fight mode.
Doctors, researchers, teachers, nurses, social workers and law enforcement officers are working to fight the cycle of trauma and abuse.
The efforts focus on seeing aberrant behavior in children as a symptom rather than a moral failing.
Another documentary, “Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age,” will be screened on Wednesday, June 1, at Corbet Theatre at Centralia College.
The screening will be from 6:30 p.m to 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $3 at the door.
Galilee Carlisle, organizer of the event, said the film investigates the impact of screen time on family dynamics, brain development and mental health.
“Family friction around screen time has increased,” she said.
“A lot of parents that I talk to are struggling with this issue because we kind of sleep walked into this.”
Carlisle said the documentary features doctors, parents, teachers and kids who are interviewed on the topic.
“Community health depends on us all having strong minds, strong hearts and strong families and if we go too far down the path of letting screens run our lives, we won’t have those things.”
More information on the movie can be found online at www.screenagers.movie.com.
