by Louise Campbell,
Teaching artist and project manager for ELAN ArtEd’s ArtistsInspire
and the Youth Mental Health Initiative

A Personal Journey into Youth Mental Health 

As a teaching artist, I have the pleasure of being a guest in schools across Québec in settings ranging from inner-city high density neighbourhoods in my hometown of Montréal to schools in smaller towns and remote and rural regions. Even after twenty years of working in the school system, I still marvel at the special relationships that teachers build with individual students, and the extent to which each classroom I walk into has its own unique group dynamic. 

I first became interested in youth mental health when I was a guest in a remote community that had suffered a traumatic event just prior to my arrival. The whole community was reeling from the event, and wasn’t, understandably, interested in sharing the details with a stranger. The dynamics were very challenging, and while I couldn’t right the wrongs of the traumatic event that had happened, or soften the emotional impact on these students, I could provide a light-hearted, low stakes activity for the students. 

Over the course of my month-long residency in this community, the artistic process became an ‘oasis’ away from the harshness of what had just occurred. I learned about each students’ interests and strengths, leading to a group podcasting project in which students co-wrote a script on a subject of their choice, and then individuals chose their role – narrator, recording engineer, sound designer, Foley artist for sound effects and more. 

As can often happen in an arts process, there were elements of the event that came up as we were working. Some students used our project as a way to explore their emotions, both in general and about what had just happened, while others preferred to dive into being creative with their new skills. We wound up with a beautifully evocative podcast about the history of the community that was played as a guest spot on the local radio show, complete with a student who spoke on behalf of the class on the radio show. 

Choice as a Path to Differentiation and Inclusion

This experience taught me an important lesson about offering choice as a method for encouraging differentiation and inclusion. The arts are a team sport. Almost every project I work on both in schools and out, requires many people with different skills, roles and perspectives in order for it to run smoothly from conception to completion. This characteristic of the arts naturally allows us to cater to students’ needs and strengths. As in any project, taking the time to understand what the students are interested in, what skills and interests they bring to the table, and providing choices for how individuals can contribute makes for stronger student engagement and learning. While circumstances in classrooms are not usually as emotionally charged as this one, students thrive when they have agency, and groups bond when everyone is able to use their unique interests and skills for the benefit of the group. 

In practice, learning what makes a student tick and helping them find their place in a group can be tricky, to say the least. For this reason, ELAN ArtEd’s Youth Mental Health Initiative seeks to support teaching artists better understanding the fundamentals of youth mental health as it applies to their practice as a teaching artist. The Arts and Youth Mental Health podcast, hosted by myself with guest teaching artist and social worker Alyssa Kuzmarov delves into youth mental health and the ways in which we can better understand and respond to students’ individual needs in order to foster inclusion (see links to episodes below). Topics are relevant to anyone engaging with youth: universal needs and student behaviour, classroom management, trauma and trauma informed practice and more. To connect with teaching artists who have received professional development training, search the ArtistsInspire listing by the criteria ‘Include only Artists with CHSSN Mental Health Initiative training’. 

The Impact of Teaching Artists on Students

While being a guest in a school has its limitations—such as not always having the opportunity to learn every student’s name—it also comes with unique advantages. Students often perceive a visiting artist as a special event, offering a fresh perspective and an opportunity to engage differently than they would with their regular teachers. The creative nature of our work, combined with an alternative approach to learning, can make teaching artists particularly engaging and memorable figures in a student’s educational journey.

My goal as a teaching artist is to connect with students, whatever their circumstances, and provide them with ways of understanding and expressing themselves, connecting with others, and, above all, having fun. The thrill of being a teaching artist is to see the excitement in a student as they discover something new, whether it is learning a new skill or passion, feeling that what they have to see is valued, or learning something new about another person. As teaching artist Jay Lemieux puts it,

“I see it all the time, when a kid makes a video and their eyes light up with inspiration, when they learn something new with confidence… [M]aybe they [find out] they’re really good at filmmaking, maybe they’re really good at making music [even if] they’re not very good at math. It gives them a sense of confidence, it’s very valuable to believe that they are important and that they do have value.” (The Arts and Youth At Risk, accessed March 5, 2025)

Many teaching artists cite this moment as the reason why they work with youth. 

Through differentiation and inclusion in the arts, we can create spaces where all students feel valued, seen, and inspired to express themselves. If you’re interested in learning more about how the arts can support youth mental health and inclusion, I invite you to explore the Arts and Youth Mental Health podcast series. These conversations provide insights and practical strategies for fostering creativity, emotional well-being, and meaningful connections with students.

 

Resources

We invite you to listen to the Arts and Youth Mental Health podcast: