It was an amazing week of creativity and connections for participants at the 3rd annual InspiRED event. InspiRED is a series of community events started by CoveCare Center’s Prevention Educators to celebrate Red Ribbon Week, a national awareness week to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities. This year’s InspiRED included four free parent-teen art nights across Putnam County.
The week started at Brewster Public Library where artist Sarah Miller Totten instructed attendees to paint an autumn scene with birds. Parents and their teens worked together, blending colors, and applying brush strokes onto canvas. Jackson Malloy, a sixth-grade participant said, “The best part about painting is that no matter what you do, it’s always art.” When asked how it was to paint side by side with his mother, Jackson stated, “I think when you make art with your relatives, it’s always a better experience because you can see their true art.”
CoveCare Center Prevention Educator Jillian Kulka welcomed more participants to Garrison Art Center on the second evening, and stated, “Children of parents who talk to them regularly about drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those who don’t; yet only a quarter of teens report having these conversations. Parents who have a positive relationship with their children and start to have conversations early and often about drugs and alcohol make a difference in how children make safe and healthy choices about substances. Parents are a very important part of prevention.”
Artist Candace Winter explained creating the mandala project, and the parents and teens set to work making colorful lines and shapes on old records. Sarah Schick, a parent in attendance commented, “What a great event to spark conversation and bring us together to find creative ways to relieve stress and discuss difficult topics. I loved spending time with my child and my neighbors!”
InspiRED closed out at Arts on The Lake in Kent Lakes, where Sarah Miller Totten brought the serenity of a mountain vista to participants. Parents and teens alike offered suggestions, asked questions, and supported each other’s creativity. Jayden Schlurensauer, who was there with his mother and grandmother exclaimed, “I liked it! I like painting and it was fun to share the experience with my family!”
With another Red Ribbon Week coming to an end, Kulka said, “I am thrilled that InspiRED is now in its third year. We are beyond grateful to the community organizations and artists who partner with us to offer this free prevention activity to the families of Putnam. The Prevention Educators look forward to bringing InspiRED to the community again next year!”
About CoveCare Center
CoveCare Center is the only private non-profit agency providing recovery-based mental health and substance use treatment and prevention services in Putnam County, NY. CoveCare Center offers hope and healing to people of all ages through a comprehensive range of services including individual and group counseling, care coordination, family advocacy, parenting education, community outreach, and medication management. CoveCare Center is a member of Coordinated Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), a non-profit 501(3) membership organization of forward-thinking, community behavioral health and disability service providers in the Hudson Valley Region whose shared goal is to promote recovery-oriented and outcome- based services designed to ensure high quality and low costs. Visit www.CoveCareCenter.org for more information.