Changemaker Spotlight: Dawn Peters & Psybriety
Promoting mental health awareness through visual arts
It’s ok not to be ok
As a musician and author, I am so glad artists like Dawn are using their gifts to raise awareness about issues that are meaningful to them.
Dawn Peters (she/her) is a filmmaker and advocate for lessening the stigma around mental health by shining a light on people’s perspectives and experiences.
She recently shared with me her passion for empowering communities, her journey through managing her anxiety, and how seeking community has led to new opportunities. And I just love her advice for women and nonbinary folks who are also trying to figure out where their gifts and goodness meet.
Thank you for sharing your story with me, Dawn!
Photo credit: Dawn Peters
Tell us about your venture.
Psybriety is a nonprofit organization that focuses on mental health awareness through visual arts. We create and produce short films, interviews, and graphics centered around various mental health topics. We release our content every May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month.
We are providing education through entertainment and providing resources to local communities. We also empower youth to create their own content.
What is unique about your approach to talking about mental health?
Psybriety is a combination of the words psychology and sobriety. So combining the two helped people be lucid and aware about their own psychology, how to be aware of other people’s psychology, how to interact with other people, and how to help them with their own mental health. Our MO is mental health awareness through visual arts, the mental health of it, the psychology of it, and the sobriety of it.
Because we are a nonprofit, all of our fundraising goes toward content creation and uplifting artists.
What motivated you to create change around how people talk about mental health?
I personally struggle with anxiety. In learning how to deal with my anxiety attacks, I was intrigued by how many people struggle and the many ways to deal with it. When my friend Julian Magloire came to me with this idea for Psybriety, it felt like a natural fit. We co-founded the organization in 2021.
How has the Changemakers Circle supported you?
My prototype that I developed during the Changemakers Circle was a fundraiser. We hosted our first fundraiser and in person screening of the work we've created. It's something I can do anywhere, any time. Literally set up and roll the tape, if you will. I wouldn't have taken that leap without the encouragement and feedback from the Changemakers Circle.
This is our 4th calendar year and we are focusing on a docuseries for this year's release. It's a huge undertaking, but I'm really excited to expand my repertoire as a director-producer.
With our first fundraiser done, people are more aware of what we've been working on, want to see more, and want to support any way that they can. That was not happening before Changemakers Circle.
What have you learned about yourself through the Changemakers Circle?
I’ve recognized that I have a great initiative. I wasn't always confident that it made sense to people. Changemakers really made me proud to speak about my work for the first time.
What are you taking away from your time in the Changemakers Circle?
I enjoyed being around people who had different ideas and seeing where they are in those ideas, as well as seeing how far they’ve gotten in comparison to where I am in my venture. And just being able to bounce ideas off people was helpful, because a lot of times, it’s really just me working. It’s nice to have somebody who can collaborate, or a group of people to collaborate with, to really bring my thoughts past just what I can see.
Photo credit: Sarah Beller / Realize Change
I’m partnering with one of the ladies I met through Changemakers to produce a docuseries and a children’s television pilot.
Her venture fits hand-in-hand with my venture and we’re able to create something together that wouldn’t have happened without Changemakers Circle.
My new docuseries with Andrea Wise Smith of Fearless Voice Media is called “Let’s Be Honest.” It’s about Christian Black women and their relationship to the church and how it affects their mental health. We have several stories that we are going to record, some from mental health professionals, some from church members, to explore their relationship as Black women. We’re going to explore how Black women are the backbone of the church but are absent in leadership, and oftentimes get abused or neglected.
What do you know now about entrepreneurship that you wish you could tell your past self?
Trust your own timing. Looking back on my life, I don’t think I could’ve started sooner. This opportunity came at the right time. It was during the pandemic, so had it come to me in my early twenties, I don’t know if that would’ve worked. I don’t know if I would’ve had the maturity or insight to carry this out the way I’ve been able to so far.
What advice do you have for other women and nonbinary folks who are seeking to use their gifts for good?
Take the time to find the right people to journey with you. And become a good person that others would want to work with.
How can people support you and your work?
We are currently fundraising for our docuseries. We want to complete filming in March. Please donate at www.psybriety.org/donations. Our goal is to have a premier in May for the docuseries. Keep an eye out for the announcement!
To keep up with Dawn’s new projects, follow Psybriety on Instagram.
Inspired by Dawn’s story? Learn more about the Changemakers Circle, a peer-supported incubator for the seed of an idea you're growing, and apply today.
Join the Realize Change mailing list to read more interviews with changemakers and hear about upcoming workshops, free community gatherings, and other opportunities.
Thank you to Becky Guldin of In Bloom Communications (another Changemakers Circle alum!) for helping to tell this story.
