Strategic partners working together to improve the lives of Caribbean youth.

"Resilience: A Virtual Exhibition of Caribbean Youth Art" was a product of the Youth Art in Times of COVID-19 Project, under the umbrella of CANPA's Caribbean Youth Mental Health Champions Project launched in June of 2022. This umbrella project sought to empower Caribbean youth to express themselves and raise awareness of mental health in the Caribbean region especially during times of crisis. The opportunities for Caribbean youth to have a voice and impact in disasters when they experience distress are limited. The project aimed to build capacity and ensure sustainability through using replicable models of intervention which aim to:

1. Develop a growing community of youth mental health advocates who can participate in spaces for them and by them.

2. Encourage and facilitate the healthy expression of mental health and ameliorate mental health symptoms through creative and diverse outlets. 

CANPA received full funding from the Clara Lionel Foundation to conduct the Youth Art in Times of COVID-19 project which targeted Caribbean-resident children aged 8 to 16, through the visual arts. The project sought to capture the unique perspective of Caribbean children and to provide them with a platform to tell their stories about the impact of the pandemic on their life and how they have been coping, through the art they produce. Youth artists from across the Caribbean submitted their work online. Other submissions were obtained through an Art and Mental Health Workshop for Teens held in Trinidad. Participants in the workshop included students of Bishop Anstey East, Trinity College East and teens from the then President of Trinidad and Tobago, Her Excellency Paula Mae Weekes' Citizen True Initiative. All the submissions were curated by a team led by teens and displayed in an online gallery.

The project steering committee consisted of the project lead Dr Katija Khan, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and President of CANPA; Dr Ishtar Govia, Academic and Registered Clinical Psychologist; Vice President of CANPA, Dr Margarett Barnett, Licensed Industrial & Organizational Psychologist, Immediate Past President of CANPA, and Mrs Zaida Khan-Ventour, Project Manager.

This collaboration was the first of its kind between CANPA and the CLF. Commenting on the funding award, Dr. Katija Khan, president elect of CANPA said: “We are delighted that we have received this vital support from CLF. Caribbean young people need more support to help grow their advocacy in promoting mental health, and this grant will allow us to provide  much needed opportunities for them to do this.”