The Taratibu Youth Association (TYA) from the United States of America, and the Pinelands Creative Workshop (PCW) from Barbados have joined forces to host an intensive, interactive, youth-focused workshop on mental health, arts, and cultural expression.
Developed by leading mental health experts from the University of Maryland Global Campus and Georgetown University, the initiative addresses the intersection of emotional wellness, cultural identity, and the performing arts.
The community-building session of this unique international exchange program took place on July 10, 2026 as a Teen-to-Teen Mental Health & Cultural Wellness Workshop under the theme “Finding My Voice, Embracing My Culture, Strengthening My Mind”.
The morning started with the most dynamic and visual segments, including a Cultural Icebreaker & Creative Introductions where youth from both nations built rapport through synchronized movement, rhythm, and cross-cultural music traditions.
Dr. Yanique Edmond, mental health specialist and certified trauma specialist, says they “work with young people to help them understand about their emotions; from trauma to anger, to teenage anx [anxiety], to dealing with abuse that may happen in their community, in their home.” Dr. Edmond wants young people to “know the difference between anger, sadness, frustration and despair, and hopelessness,” and be able to channel that into their art so that it becomes hope, a vision for their lives, and resilience.
Dr. Edmond, who led the session alongside her colleague, psychologist Dr. Dominique Charlot-Swilley, says the session held was very important as the two groups, from USA and Barbados were brought together to engage in “Teen Dialogue” to talk as teens about being in the arts, identity, culture, and how they can use all that to create music, dance, spoken word in order to actually celebrate their identity and their culture.
By the end of the session that began focusing on “what is wellness” and how the teens see themselves, each participant presented a piece; some musical, dance or spoken word, to talk about what they learned about mental health wellness.
Participant Cairo Waters from Washington, DC shared she thought the session was important because “there are so many misconceptions about people from other places. So not only is it great that we are talking about mental health and we’re learning more and we’re learning ways that we can soothe ourselves and calm ourselves down and address our emotions without judging ourselves, but it is also great because we are learning other cultures and the way that they view mental health, and learning our similarities and differences, and desensitizing ourselves to different stigmas and stereotypes.”
Waters expresses that her thoughts of the main issues of mental health are “bullying and insecurities which lead to anxiety and depression and unfortunately suicide. I think by talking about “what is mental health” in today’s session, and how we can define it in ways that we can address it, is really helping us learn ways that we can help ourselves and our peers around us.”
Barbadian Caidan Gittens, 17 year old drummer and member of the Pinelands Creative Workshop says “at a time like this as a young man especially, growing up in Barbados, it is very hard to be able to express yourself and let people know how your mental health is. You might be down but you can’t show weakness as a man, especially in this generation, not only in Barbados but even all over the world. So with a program like this, you’re able to feel free to express yourself and let go and talk about how you’re really feeling on the spot, and not feel judged.”
Gittens shared what he got out of this workshop was “a chance to express myself and also hear about other people’s mental health issues and what they may be going through and how they were able to get over it or overcome it, so if I have the same problems, I could also apply them to my life and also help others and help myself.”
Gittens “definitely” would encourage other young men to take part in mental health workshops like this because “as a man or young man in this generation, with crime and drugs.. it is very hard to express yourself and be yourself without feeling judged or feeling like you have to do something to make yourself known.”
Gittens further shared that “most young men want to be known or get money but to do that, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. So being able to come to this workshop and feel free and feel light and being able to just talk to people that understand you and come from a place of help, feeling like this for a young man, especially now, would be the perfect chance for a lot of young men.”
Young creatives experience and process the world with unique emotional depth. This workshop provided a vital, cross-cultural blueprint for teens to build emotional resilience, address modern stressors, such as social media culture and performance anxiety, and use their cultural art forms—from U.S. hip-hop to Barbadian tuk band rhythms—as tools for mental healing.
