By Meadowlark Monaghan, AIM Youth Advisory Board Member
I’m not sure art can exist without emotions. Each expressional modality feels as if it only exists as just that: expression. Art seems to ask us to crawl out of our minds and into our feelings and oh, can it evoke some strong ones.
I feel the raised goosebumps on my arms when I listen to a moving piece of music. I’ve heard “ugh, I could’ve done that” countless times in contemporary art galleries. Whether it’s inspiration, envy, validation, connection, disgust, or confusion—art bypasses our logical fallacies and smirks at our intellectualization of our emotional responses. It wants us to feel it. Sometimes lovingly, as if to call us home, and sometimes not unlike a bully looking simply to get a rise out of you.
Perhaps this is the very reason why we’ve seen a throughline of the destruction of art as an act of political protest. “If you’ve dissociated from the political landscape, watch you have to feel this,” they seem to be saying. And it works.
While the context of our experiences may be different, each and every one of us has a common denominator: our emotional landscape. I may not relate to the childhood you had but I can feel the follies of my own inner child. You may not have experienced the loss of a brother as I have, but you know what grief feels like in your own way. Expression in all its forms gets straight to the root of the matter, asking us to remember our similarities.
Art cuts straight through the context and to the core commonality of our humanity within both the act of creating and the sensory experience of consuming. Creating art is cathartic; consuming art is connective. In fact, creating art can be effective in regulating emotions, mood, and mental health—including reducing stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Even viewing art can boost our mood, reduce stress, and enhance our cognitive abilities.
Art is a powerful tool for self-expression and emotional healing by its nature to get to the root of the matter. Research has suggested that some traumatic memories are stored nonverbally and can be recollected through sensory elements (affective, visual, olfactory, auditory, and kinesthetic). In this same way, art therapy provides a safe approach to processing traumatic memories. As further research outlines, art therapy “may facilitate consolidation of experiences by converting an artistic form, representative of emotions and reactions to trauma, into linguistic communication”.
With the catharsis of creating art and the connectivity of absorbing art in mind, we are combining creativity and advocacy for our AIM for Awareness Design Challenge.
We are seeking young advocates (middle school and high school students) to help educate and bust stigma through art.
Each year, our annual AIM for Awareness Design Challenge invites students to submit an Ad that raises awareness about youth mental health challenges, stigma, and solutions.
The prompt is simple: Imagine you are hired by AIM to design an Ad that could be used in magazines or any other media and represent AIM’s movement to promote youth mental health. We are looking for Ads that can provide hope to someone struggling with mental health.
Your Ad may encourage folks to speak up and seek help, or it might encourage others to be empathetic. Your Ad might help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and substance use disorders and help break the stigma for youth to seek support and treatment. Lean into what inspires you and that inspiration will be felt through the work. In fact, turn this challenge into a caring activity in and of itself for your mental health.
Click here to see the required elements for each piece, as well as more detailed submission information, past examples, and more inspiration. Submissions are open until April 1, 2024 at 5PM PT.
We can’t wait to see what emotions you evoke in your art!
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About the Author
Meadowlark Monaghan (she/hers) is a consultant using her knowledge gained as a mental health professional to act as a liaison between brands, creators, + online communities with the field of psychology and mental health. She also co-hosts the personal development podcast, Thoughts May Vary. Her work has been seen with Madhappy, Local Optimist, The Mayfair Group, Lonely Ghost, AIM Youth Mental Health, NAMI San Diego and more.
Moving Upstream: A Proactive Approach to Addressing Behaviors and Bullying
Krista Reuther is the Assistant Director of Ohana’s Community Health and Prevention Program. She received her Masters in Public Health and Social Work at UC Berkeley. She comes to this position after 14 years of clinical social work experience at Stanford Children’s Hospital in pediatric oncology, critical care, and bereavement. Her goal is to reduce the incidence of mental illness in children and adolescents in Monterey County.
Dr. Guss is a 35-year veteran educator with a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership. She served as a classroom teacher for 10 years, including two years as a teacher in a bilingual program in South Central Los Angeles. She has also served as a college professor, mentor teacher for new teachers, and a master teacher for teacher candidates completing their student teaching experience. She continues to be a strong advocate for the teaching profession.
Fellowship: Stanford University School of Medicine (1994) CA
Michael G. Thompson, Ph.D. is a consultant, author and psychologist specializing in children and families. He is the supervising psychologist for the Belmont Hill School and has worked in more than seven hundred schools across the United States, as well as in international schools in Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
is 15 years old and a sophomore at Marina High School in Marina, CA. Her academic interests include math, history, and psychology. She joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 because she wanted to be a part of something that could have a great impact on her community. Marwa is interested in youth mental health because she has always been fascinated with the human mind and she wants to support those that are suffering who may feel like their challenges in life aren’t important enough or are too afraid to seek necessary help.
Giovanna Panetta is a 16 year old junior at Carmel High School. She has always been called to STEM subjects, specifically biology. The AIM Ideas Lab instantly attracted her attention as a research opportunity. Gia has always comprehended the importance of mental health. She knows that COVID only exacerbated previously existing problems, and that as a community we can try and find the root of those problems. Mental health is an integral part of life, and can impede a body’s ability to be healthy. She strongly believes that life is worth living, and she wants to help anyone that thinks otherwise.
Dr. Friedman completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology from University of California San Diego (UCSD). She went on to complete her masters and doctorate degrees (Ph.D.) in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/Chicago Medical School. Dr. Friedman completed her pre-doctoral internship at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, and her post-doctoral fellowship training at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Her clinical training and experience has been focused primarily on comprehensive assessment and effective treatments for anxiety, mood and related disorders. Dr. Friedman has extensive experience in providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapies for anxiety disorders (e.g. worry, OCD, social anxiety, phobias and PTSD), depression, adjustment disorders/life stress, insomnia and body-focused repetitive behaviors (e.g. Trichotillomania and skin picking). She has received training in evidence-based interventions for a variety of specific problems, including exposure with response prevention (ERP) for treatment of OCD, Prolonged Exposure (PE) for treatment of PTSD, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). Moreover, she has specialty training in the treatment of childhood anxiety and related disorders, such as ADHD, selective mutism, separation anxiety, PTSD, depression and specific phobias. In addition, Dr. Friedman has developed an expertise in research on Trichotillomania and body-focused repetitive behaviors, which has led to numerous local and national presentations. Dr. Friedman regularly attends local and national conferences, training seminars and workshops in order to stay informed on the most up to date treatments and apply state of the art science into her clinical practice.
Dr. Piacentini is a board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist and Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He directs the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Clinic and Tourette Association Center of Excellence which provide diagnostic evaluation and treatment (both therapy and medication) for youth with the above problems. He also directs the UCLA Center for Child Anxiety Resilence, Education, and Support (CARES; carescenter.ucla.edu) which provides education and programming to parents, teachers, and clinicians about anxiety prevention and management.
Citlalli Nava is 18 years old and a first year majoring in Psychology at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA. She is passionate about understanding how mental health affects how youth think, act, and feel. Citlalli joined the AIM Ideas Lab in 2021 after witnessing the increase in mental health challenges in teenagers and considering the mental health issues they are facing. Citlalli is interested in youth mental health because it is a real problem faced by her generation.
Clinical and community psychologist and health care innovator Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, is CEO of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. With more than 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students as members, APA promotes and disseminates psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives – a mission consistent with Evans’ life work.
