Our Everyday Heroes
Using our Hidden Strengths to Overcome Adversity, Combat Mental Health Stigma and Help our World
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discover phase
Our team launches into the program, by partnering with a behavioral health provider, a muralist, and a mental health peer specialist. We begin our workshop series, exploring mental health topics related to an individual’s recovery and community based topics. From there, we expand our partnership base with key community groups to engage broad sections of the community in the program. Through our workshops and our public open studio event, we develop the mural theme and cultivate neighborhood advocates and ambassadors for the program.
Event hosted at NY Public Library to explore mural themes and
discuss aspects of neighborhood that support residents mental health.
Workshop activities explore mental health topics relevant to participants at Community Access.
design phase
Once we have the mural theme, we expand our conversations and engagement activities to explore stories and symbols that will inform the mural design. We continue our workshop series and host two more public open studio events to collectively come up with what the mural design will become. Through this participatory design, we share a draft of the mural design and present it at community design reviews to capture feedback and refine the mural. Once the mural design is approved by community members we send it to print.
Event to engage small businesses and residents near the mural location to explore the mural design and learn about Community Access’ services.
Hosted a series of public events in the neighborhood to engage a range of residents and give input on what the mural should become.
Deploy phase
After the mural design is approved we print the design at a 100% scale as a black and white image. During additional workshops we prepare the paints and outline the mural panels using a color by number system. The mural panels are transformed into a large coloring book in preparation for our larger Paint Festival. We host a large festival and other smaller events for people to come paint the mural, learn about mental health services, and engage in other wellness and art activities. Our team of artists complete the murals in the studio, adding texture and details for a professional finish. We then install our murals on community walls and celebrate nine months of work with the hundreds of people involved in the process.
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Neighbors come to the Andrew Freedman Home to paint the mural and learn about behavioral health services in the area.
Top portion of mural that overlooks 176th street in the Bronx.