Feel It All – Addressing Mental Health in the Mountains from a Locals Perspective

MTN Town Magazine Entrepreneurs, Events, Wellness 0

Feel It All chronicles professional skier Drew Petersen’s journey from the depths of suicidal depression to finding purpose, strength, and resilience

Looking in from the outside living in our mountain towns seems like perpetual pristine powder days, wildflowers and camaraderie. There is a darker side that lurks in our communities and a new film, Feel It All chronicles one man’s experience with suicidal depression and his personal mission to shred the stigma of mental health and suicide.

Professional skier Drew Petersen’s has come forward and is sharing his journey from the depths of suicidal depression to finding purpose, strength, and resilience by setting a goal to run the Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon. By blending the experience of skiing the highest 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado that surround the Leadville 100 course with the emotional, immersive story arc of running one of the most iconic 100-mile ultramarathons on the planet, the film shows how within the struggle of living with mental illness lies an opportunity to access an infinite, inexhaustible well of strength to achieve our limitless potential. The film aims to ultimately create powerful cultural change around mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

At the end of May, Summit County local Drew Petersen, Building Hope, Arapahoe Basin, and Summit High School presented the world premiere of “Feel It All”, followed by a discussion about mental health in the mountains. A wellness fair marked the opening of the event both before and after the film.

We were deeply moved by Drew’s honest testimony. Standing up and sharing this story is as personal as it gets and takes a lot of courage and grit. Suicide has affected almost all of us. Mental Health in our mountain town communities is slowing becoming an acceptable, open topic that people are able to freely converse about without shame or harm to each one of us. Drew is shedding light on what has been a very taboo subject.

This film is intended to carry that message forward. We highly recommend seeing it.

Schedule

Golden, Colo. – August 1 @ Runners Roost Golden – (Free event RSVP HERE) – Group Run at 6 p.m., Film Screening at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Drew

Roaring Fork Valley | Basalt, Colo. – August 8 @ Tacaw – (Tickets HERE) – Doors open at 6 p.m., Film Screening at 7 p.m. followed by a Keynote from Drew titled, My Story is The Story of Our Community: How my lessons from skiing remote peaks and running ultramarathons can solve the mental health crisis of the Rocky Mountain West

Denver, Colo. – August 14 @ The Oriental Theater – 4335 W 44th Ave. (Tickets HERE) – Doors open at 6 p.m., Film Screening at 7 p.m. followed by a Keynote from Drew titled, My Story is The Story of Our Community: How my lessons from skiing remote peaks and running ultramarathons can solve the mental health crisis of the Rocky Mountain West

Leadville, Colo – August 16 @ the Leadville Race Series Expo – more info coming soonWe look forward to hearing Drew Petersen speak and watching his inspiring and courageous new film.

Beaver Creek, Colorado – Sept 14 Evening Film Screening & Performance @ VPAC – 7:00pm at the VPAC. Drew Petersen’s Feel It All film screening, panel discussion and live music performances with Stephen Kellogg and special guests to be announced. Tickets: Starting at $35. https://vilarpac.org/

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