HEALTH FIRST's Bright Star Center for Grieving Children and Families hosted a “Picasso Painting and Potluck” workshop for its members and their parents and guardians. “The idea is to give them an opportunity to come together as a community of people who have had similar experiences who can support one another in Bright Star,” Director Nicolle Conley told Florida Today. 

Health First Bright Star’s bereavement team hosted the free event to bring families together, giving them a chance to connect with others in Brevard who are grieving after losing a loved one, said Nicolle Conley, licensed clinical social worker with the program. All Bright Star services are free to the community.

“The idea is to give them an opportunity to come together as a community of people who have had similar experiences who can support one another in Bright Star,” Conley explained.

Leading the artistic expression was local artist Christopher Maslow, known for his stunning Space Coast murals, including the giant Florida Tech panther in downtown Melbourne. Maslow said the creative workshop was centered around art as a coping mechanism for grief. Artistic expression has been shown to benefit mental well-being and more, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“If you make art, it’s an introspective act,” Maslow said. “It puts you in a meditative, straight state, and it’s a quick and easy way to kind of find that escape from your thoughts or things around you, and it’s a positive way to enter that state.”

The art was inspired by the famous artist Pablo Picasso, and each participant got to choose a canvas with an outline already penciled in. The plan is to have a moving exhibit of the art throughout Health First hospitals.

READ the full feature from Florida Today mental health reporter Sara Paulson HERE.