Region One celebrates second annual Community Mental Health Awareness Day

Saturday, Region One Education Service Center brought its second annual Community Mental Health Awareness Day event to the public, with vendors across the Rio Grande Valley offering resources.

“We’re bringing free resources to our community members and to our staff here at Region One on the importance of mental health,” said Director of Counseling & Mental Health, Yovan Salinas. “May is Mental Health Awareness Month so we’re extremely excited to have the opportunity for resources.”

Dozens of vendors, such as the Counseling Center of South Texas, Edinburg and Pharr Police Department Crisis Units, South Texas Health Systems, and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, met with attendees to offer mental wellness resources and create community outreach.

“For us, it was important to bring agencies that provide that type of support in order to remove barriers,” Salinas said. “Oftentimes, people don’t know what organizations and agencies exist out there that they can turn to for that help.”

Also joining the mental health awareness event were local authors McAllen resident Maria Luisa Salcines, Mission native David Norec, and McAllen native Eliza M. Garza.

“Their books have a message incorporating mental health in some way, shape, or form,” said Salinas.

McAllen-based author Salcines displayed two of her children’s books, You Can Do It, Chickadee, which covers the topic of depression, and You Can Do It, Tex, which covers anxiety.

“It [You Can Do It, Chickadee] talks to children about how she has to take things one day at a time and one step at a time,” said Salcines. “And the back of the book has tips for the parents to kind of be able to understand what depression is and what they can do if their child has depression.”

Aside from connecting young readers and adults with the power of reading, Region One included a student-led art exhibit with entries from across 38 school districts from elementary to high school.

Fifteen student pieces depicted mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, and advice on how to strengthen mental health through self-care and affirmations.

“Oftentimes, our students feel unheard, right? So through art, they’re able to express themselves,” Salinas said. “It truly is important to us that we provide them that space where they can share their emotions, share their thoughts on mental health.”

The art walk received sponsors to award the top three winners: eighth-grader Erin Vicente of Vanguard Academy Rembrandt Secondary, fifth-grader Kirra Rico of Cleckler-Heals Elementary, and freshman Melanie Jasso of Vanguard Academy Rembrandt Secondary.

Lilah Banda, a fifth grader from Cleckler-Heals Elementary in Weslaco, took home a fourth-place ribbon for her piece It’s Okay to Cry. The artwork, a collage piece on canvas made with acrylic paint and paper,

The 11-year-old said creating art for those who felt unseen felt rewarding.

“It is okay to cry. It’s a natural feeling you have,” said Lilah in reassurance.

Creating the artwork allowed Lilah to resonate with others’ feelings of sadness and sorrow.

Lilah’s father, Joshua, couldn’t be prouder of his daughter for using her talent to bring awareness to the topic of mental illness.

“It’s a hard topic for many to understand, for a lot of kids. But, just, she’s taking it on, and I’m so proud of her,” said Joshua.

As a father, Joshua sees it as a privilege for younger generations of children to learn about the value of mental health in educational spaces such as schools.

“I know that depression and anxiety are becoming more, like, prevalent in society,” said Joshua. “So, I think that it’s important for them [youth] to know about this problem and perhaps how to deal with it [and] how to talk about them ahead of time.”