On a recent Friday, 37 teenagers aged 14 to 18 from Barbados and the United States gathered at Barbados’ Skymall for a one-day collaborative workshop designed to tackle common youth mental health struggles through arts-based practice and cross-cultural connection. Titled *Finding My Voice, Embracing My Culture, Strengthening My Mind*, the event was co-hosted by two youth-focused organizations: Barbados’ Pinelands Creative Workshop (PCW) and the U.S.-based Taratibu Youth Association (TYA).
The workshop was rooted in a core belief that creative expression offers a more accessible and authentic pathway to emotional processing than traditional talk-based settings, serving as a tool to help young people navigate anxiety, familial conflict, identity formation, and other common adolescent challenges. For PCW, this initiative builds on the organization’s longstanding mission to leverage creative arts as a vehicle for youth empowerment and healthy development.
Sophia Greaves, chief executive officer of PCW, emphasized that the collaboration marked another milestone in the organization’s work to connect creative practice with youth mental health support. “This is part of our ongoing collaborative journey,” Greaves explained. “We’re working with Taratibu Youth Association to use creative methodologies to help young people work through all kinds of complexities – from anxiety and fear to internal family conflict, and the growing pains of transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood.”
Greaves noted that creative outlets – ranging from dance and singing to visual art – enable young people to articulate emotions that often feel impossible to put into words, giving on-site mental health professionals clearer insight into participants’ needs to develop targeted coping strategies. “This space allows for emotional freedom of expression in a way that isn’t rigid or clinical,” she said. “Whether a participant dances, sings, or draws, our in-house psychologists get a genuine picture of what they’re struggling with, and can start guiding them toward healthy coping strategies.”
Against a backdrop of rising reports of disorientation and isolation among young people globally, the workshop prioritized root-cause healing in a safe, supportive environment. The event also complements PCW’s existing Career Life Management Programme, and Greaves voiced her hope that similar arts-focused mental health initiatives will be integrated into schools and community programs across Barbados as a strategy to reduce youth violence.
Dr. Yanique Edmond, a TYA representative and board-certified mental health and trauma specialist, emphasized that performing arts and emotional wellness are inherently linked, especially for young creatives. “To sustain a creative practice without it breaking you down or causing unaddressed trauma, you need a solid mental health foundation,” she explained. “When you channel other people’s emotions and pain into your art, it can easily become overwhelming if you don’t have the skills to process it.”
The workshop’s core curriculum was designed to teach teens to first identify their emotions, then channel those feelings into creative expression in healthy, constructive ways. “The goal is to turn that emotion into art that becomes a source of hope and builds resilience,” Edmond said. “This doesn’t happen on its own. Teens need guidance from knowledgeable adults to support them on their journey to wellness.”
This cross-border workshop is part of TYA’s broader international effort to connect young people through cultural exchange and advance a holistic, African-rooted framework for mental health that integrates mind, spirit, and body. The organization has hosted similar initiatives across Ghana, Togo, Benin, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and St. Croix, centered on elevating interconnected African cultural traditions of holistic wellness that have been practiced for generations.
After a full day of discussions, skill-building, and cultural exchange, participants translated their takeaways into original improvised performances, spanning dance, music, poetry, and spoken word. The pieces centered on themes of personal resilience, cultural identity, and hope, drawing directly from the day’s conversations.
Dr. Dominique Charlot-Swilley, a clinical child psychologist from Georgetown University and TYA delegate, added that the workshop builds on more than two decades of international cultural exchange, but with an explicit new focus on emotional wellbeing. She noted that the event highlights a unifying truth often overlooked in global discourse: “There are so many similarities between us, even though the world often tries to make us feel divided. That narrative of difference simply isn’t true.”
Cross-border exchanges like this allow young people from different national contexts to recognize their shared experiences of adolescence, while learning from one another’s cultural perspectives. “Young people all over the world are navigating trauma,” Charlot-Swilley noted. “We have more access to other people than ever through social media, but so many teens still feel deeply isolated and alone.”
As social and emotional pressures on adolescents continue to grow, she emphasized, creating intentional safe spaces where teens can openly discuss their emotions, embrace their cultural identities, and build connections with peers across borders is more critical than ever.