When young people are given the opportunity to create, they’re given the opportunity to grow.
The arts give young people the tools to understand themselves, express their emotions and build meaningful connections. Whether through visual, performing, or literary arts, creative expression helps youth process their experiences, find their voice and build confidence, empathy and leadership skills.
At the Children’s Foundation of Michigan, we understand that exposure and participation in arts are an essential part of healthy development. Through support of community partners, we’re helping ensure young people have opportunities to discover who they are and the power of their own voices.
One organization bringing that vision to life is Teen HYPE. With support from a Children’s Foundation grant, the organization is helping Detroit youth use creativity to build confidence, connection and leadership while addressing issues that matter most to them.
“Art is such a beautiful medium to create awareness,” Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Teen HYPE, Dorothy Smith said. “It connects people in ways we remember. You might have the quietest person, and they’re exposed to a way of expressing themselves through art, and they just blossom into a completely different person.”
At the heart of Teen HYPE’s approach is a commitment to youth voice. Rather than designing programs for young people, the organization develops them alongside the young people they serve.
As staff engaged their program participants, one topic kept resurfacing: mental health. Teens wanted support for themselves, but they also wanted to know how to help friends navigate anxiety, depression, and other challenges.
Mental health can be one of the hardest topics for young people to discuss openly, so this effort created space for them to tell one another what support could look like, and art offered a way in.
So Teen HYPE invited young people to decide how those conversations should happen. The result was Youth Unmuted, a series of videos and digital stories created by teens, for teens covering topics from suicide to violence, digital wellbeing to trauma bonding.
Young people reviewed scripts, challenged ideas, suggested new approaches and shaped every message. Some believed animation would connect better than interviews. Others incorporated poetry, skits and storytelling. They drew from their own experiences and the conversations they were already having with friends.
Their ownership made all the difference.
“They shaped the topics and how we talked about them,” recalled Teen HYPE Communications Specialist Yvelette Stines. “It was through their voices, their lens, and their lived experiences.”
By using art to express themselves, a creative freedom that encouraged self-expression and broadened their perspectives, the youth sparked conversations about mental health, raised awareness among their peers, and reminded other young people facing similar challenges that they are not alone. “
Along the way, youth found community, gained confidence, and realized they weren’t alone in what they were experiencing.
As Teen HYPE CEO Ambra Redrick notes, “Adolescence can be an isolating time. Honest conversations help normalize emotions, reduce stigma and remind young people that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”
The effort produced 10 original youth-created videos that generated more than 25,800 views, reached more than 8,500 unique youth and sparked more than 1,200 social media interactions. Beyond the online project, more than 500 young people participated in community programming, 100 peer educators completed training, and 17 youth leaders strengthened their leadership skills.
The numbers tell only part of the story.
Participants reported feeling more confident recognizing signs of mental health challenges, connecting friends to resources and advocating for themselves and their peers. Through artistic expression, they became trusted messengers within their own communities.
Kelly Brittain, vice president of Impact at the Children’s Foundation of Michigan, shares, “Programs like Teen HYPE’s Youth Unmuted reflect what the Children’s Foundation of Michigan believes about the importance of access to the arts and arts-based programs that engage children and young people. When young people are given the chance to use their creativity, the benefits of building self-esteem, confidence, knowledge and awareness can be immediate and lasting on their health and well being.”
Art is a way for young people to be seen, to be heard, and to discover what they’re capable of. Sometimes that’s where healing begins.
When we support the arts, we give young people opportunities to tell their own story.
