The Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry recently hosted its Third Annual Mental Health Awareness Week Celebration. Events took place at each of our Texas Children’s Hospital campuses and were multidisciplinary collaborations between numerous Texas Children’s departments and programs, bringing together experts from:
- Psychology
- Trauma and Grief Center
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Autism Center
- Social Work
- Child Life
- Employee Assistance Program
The theme of the day was “It’s Okay to Say …,” highlighting the importance for children to be able to acknowledge and be mindful of their feelings. Vibrant information booths were decorated to represent the different characters/emotions featured in Disney’s animated film, “Inside Out:” Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger. Arts, crafts and activities were all designed to encourage children to identify and express an emotion. At the Disgust booth, for example, children could place their hands in a box, where they’d feel the squish of cold noodles or the wrinkled skin of a prune, and were then asked to describe how the sensation made them feel. At the Fear table, children were asked to draw a fearful face and decorate it while discussing different ways to cope with being afraid.
There was also an extensive parent resource table with materials from all the event’s participating programs and departments, as well as community partners outside the Texas Children’s system. These resources included information on:
- Helping children grieve
- Inpatient psychology
- Depression/anxiety support
- Finding mental health providers
- Postpartum depression
- Preparing children for adulthood
- Suicide prevention
- Support groups and other programs
At our Texas Medical Center campus celebration, the guest speaker was Marlon Lizama, poet, writer, artist, author, dancer and co-founder of Iconoclast Artists, a program that focuses on empowering youth in underserved schools and incarcerated youth through the arts. Lizama spoke to the audience about his personal journey with mental health and how through creative writing as a teenager he was first encouraged to recognize and explore his emotions. He also told the assembled workers and care givers that he had been the kind of child who they help every day and applauded the work they do to help children acknowledge and be mindful of their feelings, and to help parents recognize their children’s mental health needs.