NY Health Fair Seminar - Mental Wellness for Actors: Assess, Adapt, and Inform Your Art

This seminar is presented as part of the NY Health Care Safety Net Committee’s Health Fair. 

Performers can cultivate resilience in an ever changing world. This panel discussion will cover: 

• Tools to assess mental wellness and practice emotional self-regulation.
• Adapting to circumstances, including the importance of identifying and establishing healthy boundaries in personal and performance arenas. This is especially important when called to a role portraying mental illness.
• Evidence-based tips to calm the mind through intent and breathwork, including Dr. Herbert Benson‘s research with Tibetan monks. 
• Simple yet effective lifestyle modifications to improve mental clarity and protect sleep.
• Benefits of Cinema Therapy and outlining how one panelist’s short film was created.


Panelists: 

• Carol Monda (Moderator) - Awards-Winning Voiceover Narrator, Performance Coach, and SAG-AFTRA Actor      
• Ed Heavey - Director, Stuntman, US Army Medic Veteran, NBRC Respiratory Therapist, and SAG-AFTRA Actor           
• Cathy Lilly - Certified Yoga Therapist, Senior Yoga Teacher, Movement Coach, and SAG-AFTRA Actor               
• Joseph Marcel DeMertine - MD, MBA, Lead Physician Wellness Specialist Services at Boston’s Whittier Street Health Center, and SAG-AFTRA Actor 

RSVP: Reservations are requested. Please complete form below to RSVP. Please note that you must be logged in to RSVP. 

This workshop is not intended to imply an endorsement of any individual or company by SAG-AFTRA. The information provided through the workshop is given for informational purposes and may not be a suitable substitute for the advice of other industry professionals. You should always use good judgment in these matters and should not act or refrain from acting based solely on information provided through the workshop.

This event is only open to paid-up SAG-AFTRA members in good standing — no guests are allowed. Parents/guardians of performers under 18 years old are welcome. SAG-AFTRA members, please bring your membership card or digital card in the member app (paid through Oct. 31, 2024) for admittance.

Please note that SAG-AFTRA will be taking photographs and videos at the event which might be used in our publications, social media, and to promote the union and its activities. You might appear in the photos and video and, by attending with SAG-AFTRA's group, you agree to these uses. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact newyork@sagaftra.org.