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SALT LAKE CITY -- Kids and teenagers with mental illnesses marked National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in Utah with a large art project.
They hung 24 brightly-painted flags near the ARTEC Campus of Valley Mental Health in Kearns.
"We started getting honks the minute we started hanging them up," said Stacy Brubaker, Associate Director of Children's Services, Specialty Services.
The signs represent the many stigmas the young clients feel can come along with a mental illness diagnosis. They touch on topics like suicide, name-calling and labeling.
One in four kids will experience mental illness; half will never graduate high school and only 20% will receive treatment. -Valley Mental Health
Mysti Romrell, 18, helped her therapy group design a pink sign with painted footprints and the tagline "Stomp on Stigma." Diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she's working hard to overcome stereotypes.
"I'm the same as everyone else even though I have this mental disorder," she said. "I plan on having a happy, normal life."
According to Valley Mental Health, one in four kids will experience mental illness. Half will never graduate high school and only 20 percent will receive treatment. Experts say some of that comes from the fear of being labeled, but that doesn't have to be the case. They want the public to see mental illness for what it is: an illness.
"Just because you have a mental illness doesn't mean you're not a contributing member of society," says Brubaker.
That's the message kids want to send with their flags. Many carry messages of hope.
The flags are now hanging on 6200 South and 3800 West. Once the banners are taken down, they'll go into the group therapy meeting rooms so the kids can keep those important messages around them.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
