As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Walt Whitman High School’s Ambassadors Club and Natural Helpers got a special visit from Licensed Creative Art Therapist (LCAT) and WWHS alum Liz De Monte.

The licensed and Board Certified Creative Art Therapist visited the high school just after Memorial Day to bring some much needed positivity to club members. Creative Art Therapists are trained to provide therapeutic services with the use of art materials as an alternative or additional means of self expression. Art therapy services range from art, music, dance and movement therapies. 

With New York State’s new bell-to-bell school cell phone ban about to go into effect in September, there’s been growing concern among some students about access, and with the month of May spent focusing on mental wellness, it was timely for Ms. De Monte to provide some creative services to concerned high school students. 

“I’ve seen how anxious the students are with the anticipated cell phone restrictions,” Ms. De Monte mentioned. “The students I’ve had conversations with describe concerns about safety while not having their phones on them if there were to be an emergency during school hours. And as someone who has walked these same halls as a student without a smartphone, I know that it’s safe to be digitally disconnected, despite the worry.” 

With this in mind, the Art Therapist came up with a creative group project for students to work on together. And Mental Health Awareness Month was the right time to remind students the importance of positivity and making connections with one another outside digital technology.

“I started by telling them what I always tell myself. ‘The more positivity you put out into the world, the more positivity you get back.’” With this notion, Ms. De Monte had students engage in what she described as a ‘Group Chat Mural.’ Participants, which included students, club advisors and even WWHS Principal Dr. Murphy, chose different sized speech bubbles to write down something positive. By the end of the art making process, the speech bubbles included words of gratitude, appreciation, and encouragement for one another, as well as fond memories that help them get through difficult situations. They even included reactions to the messages to add extra positivity to the papermade ‘chat room.’ 

As a Creative Art Therapist, Ms. De Monte knows which art materials are appropriate for different populations of people, whether in a group setting or one-on-one. The idea of having students create essentially a large collage with the inclusion of their written words seemed like the best way to give these students an outlet for expression, especially in a format so familiar to teenagers – texting. 

“I could see there were students who really benefited from this,” shared teacher and club advisor, Ms. Nicole Honovich. “It was great to see these students engage, especially knowing how some may be struggling with their own mental health concerns.”

Following the activity, the group spoke about how they spend their time using social media, how phones can be distracting in school, and their feelings about the cell phone ban to be implemented in schools throughout NYS. 

The group of students and staff members created a tangible “group chat” on a 12-foot-long sheet of mural paper.

Participants began by reflecting on some positive words to contribute to the group project.

Ms. Liz De Monte, LCAT, ATR-BC, opened the “group chat” with some positive words of her own. 

It was time to start the conversation as participants placed their speech bubbles onto the mural.

Thank you to Walt Whitman’s Natural Helpers and Ambassadors Club for participating in this special project for Mental Health Awareness!