Bringing mental health issues to television is Joni Johnston?s passion

Her goal with the program, ?State of Mind,? is to provide practical information based in research.

By Rebecca A. Clay

When the Dallas Mental Health Association (MHA) decided to create a cable television show on mental health, they went straight to the experts. But the production crew they assembled knew nothing about cameras, lights or the other paraphernalia of TV production. What they did know was mental disorders.

Recruited from MHA?s support groups for people with chronic mental disorders, the volunteers joined MHA board members in a class on television production offered by a local public-access TV station. The show they eventually created for the station went on to win an award from the Mental Health Association of Texas.

For the crew members who had mental disorders, producing the show offered an opportunity to learn valuable skills and meet new people. For MHA board member Joni E. Johnston, PsyD, being involved meant discovering a new passion in life. Johnston now produces and hosts a two-minute news spot about mental health for an ABC affiliate in Dallas and a half-hour show for a nonprofit station owned by the University of California?San Diego (UCSD) and picked up by several cable stations. In fact, Johnston loves producing her shows so much she does it for free.

A public service

This volunteer work in television gives Johnston a chance to provide an important public service.

'Television is people?s No. 1 source of health information,' says Johnston, who now lives in Del Mar, Calif. 'Going on TV allows me to reach people who are afraid to go to therapy or who don?t have the money to go to therapy.'

When the Dallas MHA asked Johnston to host its new show back in 1994, she had absolutely no experience with TV production. At first, she admits, she was 'a pretty reluctant on-camera person.' And the shows were pretty terrible.

Soon, however, Johnston and the rest of the production crew were producing a high-quality, one-hour show on such topics as schizophrenia, depression and sexuality. Because Johnston?s schedule gave her more flexibility than the other crew members?her corporate consulting business, the Growth Company, offers training in gender, diversity and other issues?she soon became the show?s driving force.

When Johnston moved to the San Diego area for family reasons two years ago, she passed the baton to a new host and sought a new outlet for her media know-how.

When she approached the UCSD station with a proposal for a mental health show of her own, she encountered a common mind set: The medical producer said he already had a medical show.

'I?ve run into this before,' says Johnston, adding that a tape of the Dallas show helped convince the producer to take her on. 'I had to explain that this is mental health,' she says. 'It includes things like balancing work and family and all sorts of other topics that don?t fall under medicine.'

'State of Mind,' the San Diego show Johnston now produces and hosts, has the potential to give almost a million viewers a half-hour dose of practical information each month. Currently funded by the station itself, the show airs the third Thursday of each month at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. (Pacific).

A different approach

Johnston?s goal with 'State of Mind' is to provide practical information based in research. One recent show focused on helping children cope with physical pain, for instance. Another guest gave practical tips on what to do when your child needs a shot or breaks a leg.

'I?m always asking my guests, ?So what??' says Johnston, who pre-interviews guests before they go on the air. 'What does this mean to someone watching the show?'

Using an interview format, Johnston addresses two mental health issues per show. Other topics have included post-partum depression, children and therapy and what happens to people left behind after a suicide. Although Johnston strives for a multidisciplinary guest list, she tries to fit psychologists in whenever she can.

Johnston thinks her own status as a psychologist helps her avoid the sensationalism and insensitive interviewing sometimes found on other talk shows. 'People have seen shows that were exploitative, so they?re sometimes afraid to come on,' she says. 'It really helps that I?m a psychologist. People trust me.'

As the producer of 'State of Mind,' Johnston has to do a lot more than just chat with guests on the air. In reality, she does everything from faxing directions to the station to guests to bringing doughnuts to the set. Other tasks include choosing topics, finding appropriate guests and networking.

Despite her move to San Diego, Johnston hasn?t lost touch with her colleagues in Texas. Once a month, she flies back to Dallas to tape four installments of a two-minute news spot called 'Minding Your Health' for WFAA. Funded by MHA, the weekly piece airs every Saturday during the 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. (Central) newscasts.

The Dallas spot?s two-minute format means Johnston must be even more relentlessly practically minded than with her San Diego show. Working with a producer, Johnston boils each topic down to three key messages. She also tries to give viewers new perspectives. For a forthcoming piece on battering, for example, she decided to focus on battered teens. Noting that the O.J. Simpson trial put battering all over the news, she plans to explain to viewers that most battered women were battered teen-agers and hopes to feature the parent of a battered teen as a guest. 'We look at timely topics from a different angle,' she explains.

Both shows take a lot of work, Johnston admits. Each episode of 'State of Mind,' for example, takes 10 to 20 hours. Nonetheless, she hopes to do even more television work in the future. She also encourages other psychologists to follow in her footsteps.

'Going on television would be a great marketing tool if you were in private practice,' says Johnston, noting that many viewers have called wanting psychotherapy. Because of the referrals she offers, 'I have a lot of grateful psychologist friends,' she says.

Rebecca A. Clay is a writer in Washington, D.C.