An event aimed at connecting youth with mental health and substance use resources in the community was a huge success, say organizers.
Called the Youth Art Collaborative, the awareness event held at George Little Park on July 17 featured various booths set up by mental health professionals and a display of artworks submitted by children in elementary, middle and high school.
The drawings, collages, poems or short stories told of the artists’ own struggles with mental health and how they overcame those difficulties.
“The atmosphere was so calming and people connected and got a lot of information about community resources, which was the purpose of the event,” said event lead Inderpreet Sandhu, part of the Terrace Local Action Team (LAT).
The team – a volunteer collaborative between police, schools, social agencies and mental health workers in the area – aims to fill in the gaps in mental health care for children and families in Terrace.
Sandhu said that participants came away from the event feeling better connected to mental health wellness resources and noted they now know “the faces of the service providers too.”
The event is part of a broader initiative by the Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Collaborative (CYMHSU) which has organized 63 other Local Action Teams in the province working to address children’s mental wellness.