As a nation, we have faced several dire statistics over the past few years. Suicide rates have increased more than 30% in half of the US states since 1999, and the opioid crisis has turned into an epidemic. Additionally, negative childhood experiences are likely to increase due to increasing isolation and lack of school support services during the COVID-19 pandemic. These statistics are further troubling when one considers that mental health and addiction problems often begin in adolescence and lead to long-term disability, failure to reach one's full potential, and premature death.
It is therefore of the utmost importance to reach young people with multivariate, systemic and effective outreach methods. Using social media and other online events can be more effective at reaching larger audiences than simple public awareness messages, and this method is especially important during times when social distancing is required. With grants from the Jackson County and North Carolina Arts Councils, the Western Carolina University (WCU) advisory program worked with local public schools across western North Carolina to create an online arts and wellness magazine called Masterpeace. We have invited K-12 students to submit art to this publication that should do the following:
Create an engaging online (and print) magazine that celebrates local student art
Build university-school partnerships
Working with PhD student counseling to provide mental health and wellness education to children, adolescents, parents, teachers and counselors
Destigmatize mental health problems
Increase conversations between parents, students, teachers, and community members about the importance of seeking help with mental health problems
Healing through art
The coupling of art with wellness information is particularly advantageous because research shows that creating and appreciating art is therapeutic. Creating art evokes brainwave activity similar to what is seen in people meditating. Art therapy is effective in helping clients who have experienced domestic violence, trauma, depression, personality disorders, and schizophrenia.
Artists are visionaries who follow their hearts, not the crowd, and are regularly at the forefront of social change. Often it is music, paintings, graffiti or wall paintings that bring the public the much-needed awareness of inequality and oppression. The aim of this arts and wellness magazine is to encourage and nurture the creative genius of students to inspire others to create a more collaborative and just society.
Extension of the range
An online magazine can be an effective tool because 95% of teenagers have access to a smartphone, 89% of them visit online several times a day, and 40% say they prefer to get health information online rather than personal medical information. In addition, accurate online health information reduces anxiety and depression and improves stress management, healthy relationships, and academic performance. There is evidence that online health education is particularly important for stigmatized topics that adolescents would normally avoid in their personal environment.
The WCU's advisory program tested the effectiveness of including art in mental health information on the university's social media platform. First, we published information about suicide prevention on the counseling program's Facebook page. Then the next day we added student art with the same suicide notice post. Adding art to the post increased the reach of the suicide prevention message: 46 more views (168 total), 152 more engagement (165), and 11 more likes (17).
Strengthening university, school and agency relationships
Masterpeace magazine improves our partnerships between universities, agencies and schools by providing students, parents, counselors and teachers with an engaging way to interact with each other during a period of social isolation. The teachers told us how much they appreciate having the online magazine to discuss with their students and inspire them to create art. For example, a middle school counselor worked with a student who was new to the school and had difficulty adjusting. He suggested she join the art club, and she did. And one of her works of art was published in Masterpeace. The counselor said it significantly improved her attitude and engagement in the school. Another art teacher told us that one of her talented high school students' intermittent depression had visibly improved after her art was published in the magazine, and the teacher also believed that this publication would increase the student's chances of receiving a college scholarship . It may sound clichéd, but it is worth helping even one student to succeed.
The enthusiasm for the magazine was evident in the number of participating pupils and schools. Between 2020 and 2021 editions, the number of students increased by 100% and the number of schools that contributed art increased by 27%. To date, the first two issues of Masterpeace have been viewed over 4,700 times, a range that is significantly more than the faculty could have achieved through discussions with schools and community groups.
We hope that the cooperation with community schools and agencies will also strengthen their participation in advising on student internships, service learning opportunities, internships, internships and other partnerships.
Another benefit to this project is that it includes counseling for graduate students who use what they learn about mental health and prevention in classes to provide outstanding information throughout the magazine. This project, in turn, benefits both the graduates and the K-12 students as it encourages the advisory graduates who become future counselors to apply course material in a way that K-12 students can understand and apply in their lives.
Recognition of the establishment of the consulting profession
We believe that this magazine has a broader and more nuanced purpose. The counseling profession was founded on prevention and wellness principles and is increasingly leading the way in behavioral health related to diversity, social justice and equality issues. The beauty and originality of art represent the desire of the consulting profession to appreciate the truth and uniqueness of each individual and to enable them to express themselves in their own way. Much like the vision and imagination it takes to create art, we believe this magazine speaks to the ethos of the consulting profession by recognizing the diverse and meaningful ways we all contribute to the world and an ever evolving and highly complex one create beautiful tapestry of mankind.
Enjoy browsing through the 2020 edition and the 2021 edition of Masterpeace and follow us on Instagram @ masterpeace.artmag.
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" The New King of the Jungle "by Marina Mace, the cover of the 2021 issue of Masterpeace magazine (published by Western Carolina University in collaboration with the Jackson County and North Carolina Arts Councils)
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"The New King of the Jungle" by Marina Mace, the cover of the 2021 issue of Masterpeace magazine (published by Western Carolina University in association with the Jackson County and North Carolina Arts Councils )
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" The New King of the Jungle "by Marina Mace, the cover for the 2021 edition of Masterpeace magazine (published by Western Carolina University in association with the Jackson County and North Carolina Arts Councils)
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Russ Curtis is a Licensed Mental Health Clinical Advisor and Professor of Counseling at Western Carolina University. Contact him at [email protected].
Lisen Roberts is Human Services Director and Associate Professor of Consulting at Western Carolina University, where she oversees 10 academic programs. She continues to be committed to school counseling, ethics counseling and social justice. Contact them at [email protected].
Merry Leigh Dameron is a licensed school counselor and assistant professor of counseling at Western Carolina University. Her research interests include social justice in education, alternative education, and cultural literacy of school counselors. Contact her at [email protected].
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Opinions and statements in articles appearing on CT Online should not be construed as the opinions of the editors or guidelines of the American Counseling Association.
