“Be creative and you will reach more people”: youth’s experiences participating in an arts-based social action group aimed at mental health stigma reduction

ABSTRACT

Background: Starting in 2013, the Mental Health Youth Action Board, made up of 15 teens ages 15–18, was created to advise a large children’s hospital on improvements in mental health care and produce social action projects to impact community perceptions of mental health.

Methods: This participatory qualitative case study explored the experiences of 14 young people who participated in the Mental Health Youth Action Board between 2013 and 2016.

Results: There were two higher order themes: process and outcomes. Process-related themes included how this was a unique leadership experience, the importance of the arts-based approach, and value of the intentionally constructed storytelling process. These processes led to youth growing as advocates for mental health.

Conclusions: Arts-based approaches to social action that allow youth to share personal experiences of stigmatized topics can promote healing and support their growth as leaders.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• creative writing
• health education
• action research
• thematic analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.