By Leah Mallory
While barriers including financial limitations and cultural stigma persist for youth of color when it comes to accessing mental health assistance, there are lesser-known and undervalued support resources that can provide youth of color with the tools to channel their frustrations and find their voices.
Art, a vessel long-used by communities of color for expressing cultural identity, addressing social issues, and promoting healing, may be the next best option for processing emotions/emotional expression, especially in moments when formal care is not immediately available.
Jasmine Edwards, a professor at LaGuardia Community College and certified therapeutic recreation specialist, serves on the board of Arts For All, an arts organization dedicated to bringing artistic opportunities to students in New York City.
She explained that art should not be viewed as an alternative to professional mental health services, but can certainly offer individuals an emotional outlet.
“Art and the creative arts overall [are] about getting you to open up and to let those feelings out, which is very similar,” she said. “[Psychologists] want you to get it out, but if you don’t have those resources — or even if you do — art is a great supplement to those resources. And if you don’t have it, just being able to let it out [is important].”
As a board director, Edwards plays a key role in the organization’s decision-making and strategic planning. Before joining the board, she served as the director of therapeutic recreation and volunteer services at a pediatric nursing facility for children living with HIV, where she first became acquainted with Arts For All.
The organization contacted Edwards to see if she would be interested in their programming, which involves resident artists visiting to lead sessions with the children. Edwards recalled one project where the students developed rap songs, revealing their genuine feelings about their diagnosis, which she said they described as a monster living inside their bodies.
“And I never would have associated describing somebody with HIV as having a monster,” she said. “But when you hear it from someone who’s living with it, especially a youth [and] that’s the terminology they’re using – that’s really powerful.”
When the students shared their raps, Edwards viewed it as a major milestone for their healing because it allowed them to express their feelings without shame — whether those feelings were good, bad, or somewhere in between.
“We have emotions, we have stress, we have anxiety with the society we live in today and the things going on around the world,” she said. “Just being able to express your feelings and be accepted and not be shunned for that is really huge. Sometimes, the kids would say, ‘We know that doing these art programs is not going to make our HIV go away, but it’s nice to be able to talk about it.’”
Kelly Niceley, a licensed creative arts therapist in the Bronx, corroborates Edwards’s sentiments, explaining that art can be another form of communicating or providing perspectives.
“When you’re creating something, it allows you to gain an additional perspective, bringing up some things that may be a little less obvious,” she said. “In essence, you’re communicating with yourself. In traditional talk therapy, the therapist is the liaison, synthesizing and giving back. When you add art materials, it’s like adding a third layer. Of course, for those who embrace their creativity, it’s a great outlet. But even for those who may be less open to it, it can still be useful, especially for individuals who are limited in their verbal processing.”
For youth of color, embracing different artistic forms of expression may be particularly helpful due to the additional challenges they face as members of marginalized communities and as marginalized individuals. While it’s already difficult navigating adolescence, that stress is compounded by systemic inequalities and societal pressures, overloading youth of color with more anxiety and mental strain.
Based on 2022 data from the AAKOMA Project, 52.1% of Black youth experienced mild to severe anxiety, and 53.3% experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
Also, according to the Office of Minority Health, in 2022, suicide was the third leading cause of death for African Americans ages 10-24.
Furthermore, much of mental health care lacks cultural competency and sensitivity. Results from a 2021 survey by KFF revealed that while most adults identified cost and scheduling as the chief barriers to mental health care, adults of color disproportionately reported other obstacles, such as difficulty locating a provider who understood their cultural background and experiences.
Similar to Arts for All, the arts education nonprofit Disrupt Media is doing similar work by empowering youth to hone their voices through filmmaking, offering them a platform to center and express their unique experiences.
“I know myself as a Black woman, living in New York City, that I had something to say and had things that I want to get out,” said Ebony Cawthorne, founder and director of Disrupt Media. “I know that’s the same thing with these youth that I’m working with day in and day out. They may not feel heard in regular school [so] they need these third spaces, they need these other outlets to be able to champion for themselves.”
Cawthorne explained that she conducts workshops and sessions for students, often in collaboration with schools and community organizations that host her, focusing on a culturally competent approach.
“I believe that representation matters. I believe that they have to see it and that, if they don’t necessarily see what they want, then they can then create themselves,” she said.
At Disrupt Media, Cawthorne said she incorporates mindfulness exercises to help dispel any anxiety students may have.
She said the breathing exercises have reaped positive outcomes, bolstering students’ confidence and providing them a space to be vulnerable.
“They feel like it is a safe space where they can voice any concerns of any social injustices, or just in their own personal lives of feeling that now they are able to communicate,” she said.
The data support this creative approach, too. Cawthorne said Disrupt Media has engaged over 170 students weekly since October 2023 and that 90% of elementary and middle school students reported increased interest in visual arts and boosted confidence in public speaking and presenting their work. In addition, 85% of high school students say they gained new photography skills and techniques they plan to use for independent projects as they transition to college.
Both Arts for All and Disrupt Media rely on funding through donations and partnerships. Edwards pointed out a discrepancy, noting that more affluent areas often receive greater financial support, while less affluent areas, where people of color are frequently overrepresented, face funding gaps.
“You have funding that is funneled to schools in neighborhoods that are more affluent,” she said. “And then you have schools that are not getting that kind of funding and don’t have those kinds of resources, and that’s where you see our Black and brown children. So they’re not getting that.”
So, while art programs do offer youth of color an accessible option for healing and mental health support when professional services are out of reach, the maintenance of these organizations then becomes imperative to ensure our youth are heard and cared for.
“This is an outlet that they need.” Edwards said, “You need to be expressive. Arts have a healing power, and I truly believe in that.”
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