January 26, 2021 | Bethany Ao
How three Philly groups are raising mental health awareness in immigrant communities
“If you were to say mental health sessions, our participants would think it means like for people who are having a mental breakdown or psychiatric break in some ways,” he [David Heayn-Menendez] said. “There’s a lot of taboo and obstacles to that. With art therapy, we didn’t ask them to tear their hearts out and put them on display. We just asked them to write a poem or a letter to their country, which allowed them to share about themselves and practice language at the same time. That was one of the ways we got over the taboo and barriers.”
