Comic book characters such as Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Wonder Woman and Black Widow served as a source of power.
Struggling with mental health issues, Hannah Kiracofe had started coming to Centerstone, a nonprofit health system serving central and southern Indiana. At first, the 16-year-old didn’t know how to express the emotions and turmoil they was experiencing.
But they found a voice in an unorthodox way — decorating a skateboard deck with superheroes.
“Researching their backstories, I learned that these people went through so much, and you’re not alone,” Kiracofe said. “There were a lot of characters I could connect to.”
In light of the mental health crisis accompanying the coronavirus pandemic, officials with Centerstone have used creativity and artistic expression to help young people who are struggling. The non-profit health system created the Skateboard Project to use art therapy to help children and teens work through past traumatic experiences and common mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression.
Participants were able to design their own skateboard decks and matching shoes, using their own creativity as a treatment for their trauma.
“While it may seem simple, customizing their skateboards allows them to express themselves which in turn unhinges their trauma,” said Kristine Nunn, manager of child and family services at Centerstone. “Not all children have the words to express their trauma, and projects like this provide them with an outlet to express it through nonverbal communication.”
Centerstone provides mental health and substance use disorder treatments. The organization serves about 30,000 people in central and southern Indiana, including at its Greenwood facility.
Services range from addiction recovery to counseling to social services. But one area that has increasingly become needed is its children’s trauma program.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deemed trauma experienced by children as a public health issue. Traumatic experiences during childhood can have far-reaching consequences in the future, including high blood pressure and gastrointestinal issues, difficulty maintaining employment and trouble with personal relationships, Nunn said.
Research by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente, a health care group, has shown that traumas can disrupt a child’s development, lead to increased suicidal ideation and negate coping mechanisms. Over generations, trauma can impact lives.
“In our area here in Indiana, there are high rates of (Department of Children’s Services) notifications, food insecurities, high poverty levels,” Nunn said. “So the time was right for there to be a program to address the rising rates of children’s trauma.”
The Children’s Trauma Level 3 program — with 10 therapists and other family support specialists — provides mental services for kids who have suffered trauma in their lives. The evidence-based curriculum allows counselors to work with patients, while also offering experiential therapy and hand-on learning, such as drumming circles and art, to unlock a child’s creative side.
As the pandemic took its hold, Centerstone officials wanted to create a program that could help from afar, that the participants could do on their own time.
“It was birthed while we were all on lockdown. We had children that were dealing with mental health trauma, and we were looking for a unique way for them to be able to express that,” Nunn said. “We know that whenever we express struggles and past trauma, there’s feeling that takes place — there’s healing that takes place emotionally.”
Nunn and Blythe Allen, a family support specialist for Centerstone, searched for a medium that would be exciting and appealing to both children and teens. They came up with the idea for skateboard decks with matching shoes.
“A lot of my teenagers have learned to enjoy art and use it as a positive way of communicating, not only with me but with their peers, finding a way to relate to others,” Allen said.
Participants were provided the skateboard decks, and given free range to customize them as they wanted to with paint, drawings, glitter and anything else they wanted to use. A central theme was superheroes — those characters that they mostly related to.
“The thinking was that superheroes have their own backstories, which can include trauma, and how they find ways of coping and using their powers and strengths in a positive way,” Allen said.
Participants were allowed to choose their own superhero, doing research and finding one — or ones — they personally connected with. Then, on Zoom meetings, they would discuss with their therapists their feelings around the project.
They shared their journey of creation, and how that skateboard represented their mental health struggles.
For Kiracofe, the project was liberating.
“To be honest, at the beginning, I wasn’t that much of a fan of taking it on. But Blythe got me to try it. I came out of a really bad place when I started coming to Centerstone, and this got me to open up. I couldn’t bottle it up inside me anymore. I had to let it out somehow,” they said.
Kiracofe wove feminist strength into her superhero theme, picking from the catalog of strong female characters to populate her skateboard. Against a pink background, the symbols for more well-known characters such as Batwoman and Catwoman were arranged with lesser-known but important figures, such as Katana and Black Canary.
“They were different superheroes that don’t get as much attention or who don’t get as much recognition for what they do,” they said. “There was a huge range of different characters.”
Having finished the project, Kiracofe is appreciative for the experience. Art has become a significant tool to manage their own mental health.
“It meant a lot to be able to find a new coping skill for me, and to learn about myself,” they said. “It opened a lot of new doors for me, and helped me understand that I was not alone. There are others around here that are going through the same things.”
With the Skateboard Project now complete, and seeing the benefits that it had, Centerstone wants to keep doing similar projects moving forward.
“There are layers of trauma that sometimes blunt creativity, and for Blythe to be able to work with the kids through those layers, to resurrect what is already there with creativity, watching that process that was there was really neat,” Nunn said.
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Centerstone
What: A not-for-profit health system providing mental health and substance use disorder treatments. The organization serves about 30,000 people in central and southern Indiana.
Where: More than 25 locations in Indiana, including the office at 710 Executive Park Dr., Suite 11, Greenwood
What do they offer: Services vary by location, but include:
- Addiction recovery
- Children and family services
- Counseling
- Crisis and urgent care
- Forensic evaluation
- Housing
- Inpatient
- Military services
- Pharmacy
- Primary care
- Psychiatric care
- Social services
- Vocational and workplace
Information or to get help: Call (800) 344-8802 or go to centerstone.org
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