MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -Dozens of community members drove up to the Mallards Duck Pond on Wednesday night to watch a documentary that highlights the current mental health crisis.

Samuel Dennis and his wife took a trip to the Mallards Duck Pond to watch Bedlam. He said it’s not just a screening, it’s real life.

“I suffer from mental illness. It’s a lifelong illness,” he said.

Bedlam, the documentary, explores the mental health crisis in America, set in Los Angeles.

“What it’s like trying to get treatment, what it’s like trying to keep the family keep a job,” Dennis said.

He said the mental health system is broken.

“It’s difficult to get treatment. It’s difficult to get community support. It’s difficult to have insurance to cover everything,” he said.

Dennis said right now he’s in a good place, but he knows others are struggling.

“I can’t imagine how I would feel or what my mental health would be like if I was alone, isolated and without health insurance or without support,” he said. “It would be a desperate situation.”

Organizers said putting this documentary on the big screen is to educate the community about what’s happening in their own backyard.

“Right now we’re seeing the holes within the mental health system and the behavioral health system as well,” Anna Moffit, NAMI Dane County executive director said. “This time is more critical than ever to be talking about it.”

She said the pandemic presents new challenges.

“A lot of people are struggling alone because of physical distancing and so the numbers of suicide and overdose are rising,” Moffit said.

She said it’s time to shatter the stigma surrounding mental health and present an opportunity to make changes.

‘What are different strategies and initiatives that we could be doing in our community that could improve the outcomes for individuals with mental illness?” she said.

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