Sun staff
Children and teenagers from several organizations in Clermont County learned about ways to express their feelings this year during a project organized by Clermont County Fast Trac.
The project, “My Feelings are a Work of Art,” is a compilation of student artwork from several schools and organizations that reflect how students are feeling and what they are thinking.
Students created a variety of artwork to express their feelings including masks that showed what they were letting people see on the outside and what they were feeling on the inside, shoes that explained what it was like to walk in their footsteps, a quilt of feelings pieced together, and much more.
“The idea was to help reduce the stigma around mental health and also show that there are other ways to show your feelings and artwork is one of those things,” Gretchen Behimer, project director for Clermont County Fast Trac, said.
Behimer said they had more students participate in the project this year including children and teenagers from local elementary schools, Child Focus, Clermont County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Juvenile Court, and more.
Behimer said there are many ways to express emotions and the children seem to enjoy creating artwork to express themselves.
“To me, it’s pretty emotional to look at all of it,” Behimer said about the artwork that was created.
Some of the artwork expressed happiness, excitement, pride and other positive feelings, but the artwork also expressed sorrow, anger, boredom and other negative feelings.
Tara Keith, coordinator of social marketing for Fast Trac, said more than 1,200 children and teenagers participated in the program this year.
Keith said students began the project in May, which is National Mental Health Awareness Month.
Keith said this is the fifth year of a six-year federal grant Fast Trac received to fund the project.
This year the artwork was on display at EastGate Mall in Union Township from Sept. 19-26.
She said helping students express themselves is the beginning of other positive mental health practices.
“A lot of times this is just starting the conversation,” Keith said.
Clermont Fast Trac is a collaborative mental health system that provides community-based and individualized support and services for children in Clermont County as well as their families.
For more information about Fast Trac, visit www.clermontfasttrac.org.