Reflective Journal by Madison Grace Louise Paul

Why Mental Health?

c6kym — 2025-04-28 00:52:18 UTC

After reading Duck, Death, Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch (2007), I was moved to look deeper into picturebooks as art for adults too. The topic of mental health called to me as someone who has a long history with challenges and victories. Mental health is a challenging topic to talk about, especially when you are in the thick of it. There are so many unique and intersecting ways that individuals experience mental wellness and mental illness, which I thought would be interesting to see visually, such as in picturebooks.

These texts also offered me a chance to challenge my assumptions about creating time and space for adults and children to think, read, and reflect on the topic of mental health. I think my own lived experience with mental health struggles caused me to put up a self-protective barrier for this topic. It’s not that I didn’t see value in those conversations, but more that I was scared. I was scared to say the wrong thing, to be too vulnerable, to open a can of worms I wasn’t ready for. I wanted to continue to challenge myself to free children’s literature from my adult imposition.

Titles and Authors

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:11:27 UTC

The Red Tree - Tan, S. (2010)

Small Things - Tregonning, M. (2018)

I Go Quiet - Ouimet, D. (2019)

Violent Shrink - Baldacchino, C., & Mok, C. (2020)

I Never Knew Your Name - Garland, S. & Greenberg, S. (1994).

"When I read, I feel that every living thing is a part of me..."

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:15:08 UTC

One of the lines that resonated with me the most was “When I read, I feel that every living thing is a part of me” and “I think I may be part of everything too.” (Ouimet, pp. 33-34). To me, this beautifully sums up why having books on topics such as Mental Health is crucial to creating supportive and reflective learning spaces. In an almost meta way, this book about escaping isolation through stories is in itself a story that can help children and adults find a new way to see themselves in the world they exist in.

Wonderings

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:15:27 UTC

Through this story, I was forced to reconsider those children and adults who “sing in silence.” In a world where the “squeaky wheel gets the grease”, how can I, as a human, help others in finding their voice? What’s so beautiful about this story, which impacted me as an educator, is that the girl uses stories, books, and imagination to climb out of a place of isolation and misunderstanding.

Thoughts

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:15:50 UTC

In a dark, industrial, tightly-packed world, a young girl feels like a mouse amongst cats. The atmosphere of I Go Quiet reminds me of the enveloping feeling of isolation and the weight of feeling like you don’t belong, despite the presence of people. The use of full-page spreads throughout the book captured me as a reader and viewer - my attention is forced to certain elements. For example, in spreads 6/7 and 12/13 (Ouimet, 2019), the girl is highlighted in lighter colours compared to the darker, more muted surroundings. In one instance, she narrates, “When I walk into a room, I hear whispers…” (p. 7), which left me wondering if her feelings of being othered lead her to feel like she’s in the spotlight, even when she may not be. It reminded me that sometimes, even though people may appear outwardly quiet, their minds can be loud, with thoughts that spiral out of control.

Implications For My Practice

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:17:07 UTC

Given the impact The Red Tree has had on me, I find myself asking: why would I want to deny that opportunity to a student to see that they are not alone? To see that there is nothing “wrong” with them? Or to deny children, as humans, the chance to see into the lived experiences of the people we share this beautiful planet with?

Personal Impact

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:17:30 UTC

This story is one that had a deep impact on me by making me feel seen. It reminded me of times in my own life when the world felt unrecognizable and disconnected. The lump in my throat became overwhelming when I read the text that said “wonderful things are passing you by” (Tan, 2010, p. 15), as if it were from my own mind. It challenged me because, while I know how intensely hopeless these emotions can be, I don't want to believe that any child should ever experience such a deep sense of despair. However, to impose an adult view that childhood is confined to happiness and innocence would be to rob children of stories that reflect the full spectrum of human emotions, including mental health struggles.

"Then all your troubles come at once"

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:18:27 UTC

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan (2010) elicited a deeply emotional response within me. This book holds particular significance to me as a reader because it emphasizes the power of illustration in representing emotions and experiences. In an interview, Tan recognizes this when he says, “people can talk about feelings that are hard to talk about” (30:57). This is one of the things that I love about the book—it doesn’t try to explain or solve the problem of depression. Instead, it lets the images speak, letting readers process their own emotions as they witness the girl’s journey. The use of surrealism elicits a level of subconscious thinking and feeling, which leaves me thinking about using art as a tool for continuing the conversation about Mental Health in the learning space.

One example that stood out to me is the spread on pages 13/14, where waves roll and boats crash in a way that’s almost impossible to separate or make sense of. On page 13, the text reads, “Then all your troubles come at once.” (Tan, 2010). I connected with this imagery because I felt it was a strong representation of that hectic and overwhelming feeling that comes crashing in when your troubles catch up to you. As someone who struggles with depression, this image encapsulated that feeling of despair when everything is crashing in on you, and it seems like there’s no escape.

Facing Feelings of Failure

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:25:52 UTC

Nic’s struggles with internalizing his disappointment challenged me to think about the academic pressure that students experience and how educational settings address topics like achievement, failure, and disappointment. How might Nic have been impacted if his educator used his dropping grades as an indicator to check in on him? What factors might have contributed to his isolation? I think this story would serve as a great launchpad to have those classroom conversations around topics like worry and shame, especially around school and grades. It’s also a great way to start having conversations with colleagues about how the ways we facilitate the learning experience with children can be more mindful of life experiences, such as mental health.

Recognizing Real Childhoods

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:26:05 UTC

An important message I took away from this book is that children feel the weight of their experiences just like adults do. Pressure, shame, and loneliness are all very real parts of the lived experiences of children, which in turn have very real impacts on their mental health. Not being accepted into a conversation, not being passed the ball, and being rejected are all some of the “small things” that Nic experienced. These moments only added to his “worry monsters” (Sweeny, 2016), which were exacerbated by receiving a “C” on his homework.

Power of Pictures

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:26:18 UTC

Mel Tregonning’s posthumously published wordless picturebook, Small Things (2018), features striking black and white visuals created using soft graphite on paper (The Bird King, 2016). Without words, the book invites readers to engage deeply with body language, facial expressions, and symbolic visuals. As an educator, this book had me stop and think about the unspoken experiences children and their families live out every day. As a human, it reminded me how the small things can lead to big impacts, especially as they compound. It is also an important reminder of how deeply connected we all are, how one simple action can have profound effects on ourselves and others. Noticing and caring for one another is an important part of community mental health.

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:29:30 UTC

I think it is also important to recognize the value of visual storytelling and how different styles and narratives can be used to capture those intangible moments and feelings that encapsulate the human experience. As Anthony Browne says, “Picturebooks are particularly very special. It’s the first art we see” (Booktrust, 2010, 1:55). When I consider these stroies in that regard, it makes me realize that we are introducing children to a way to express themselves, i.e through the arts, weather that be consuming or creating.

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:29:40 UTC

I connect what I’ve learned through these stories with a teaching I received from Elder Noel Milliea (Mi'kmaq Elsipogtog). He talks about each having their Medicine Wheel that has the four quadrants - Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, and Physical. To care for our well-being, we need to keep our Medicine Wheel balanced. When we are out of balance, we can get sick. This way of being places equal emphasis on both mental and physical well-being, as well as emotional and spiritual. We have to support each other in finding and maintaining balance - we aren’t meant to walk this world alone.

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:29:55 UTC

In the same breath, I think these stories are also important for adults to be able to look at some of those topics that might still be taboo for them. These books truly forced me to look inward and ask, how can I empathize with others around mental health if I don’t have empathy for myself? Learning about myself through these books was a moving experience and is encouraging me to think about how I can work on my mental health literacy.

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:30:10 UTC

In reflecting on the collective impact of the stories, I was also influenced by the texts “I Never Knew Your Name” (Garland & Greenburg, 1994) and “Violet Shrink” (Baldacchino & Mok, 2020). Though all of the books have their own stories to tell, all of them highlight how deeply important connection is to our mental well-being– Connection amongst one another, connection to ourselves, and connection to the living and non-living of this world. What I’ve come to appreciate is that stories and conversations around mental health aren’t just something we do off the side of our desk – it needs to be made a priority. According to the Mental Health Association of Canada, “70 per cent of persons living with mental illnesses see their symptoms begin before age 18.” (2017, para. 1). If that’s the case, I see picturebooks being an ideal tool for promoting mental health literacy, a protective factor, among youth.

Tips to myself

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:43:54 UTC

~Consciously include stories surrounding mental health in the classroom book collection.

~Ensure stories reflect the authentic and contemporary lives of children.

~Make time for students' questions and discussions around mental health themes.

~Foster a learning environment where students can trust, empathize, and be brave with one another by modelling a growth mindset and empathy, co-creating expectations early on, and celebrating mistakes as opportunities to learn.

Challenges

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:49:22 UTC

~Challenging and sensitive topics can give rise to concern in the school setting

Prepare to advocate for both the children and the books by highlighting their literary and narrative quality.
Be ready to respond thoughtfully to difficult questions so that I am not caught off guard.

~Difficult, uncomfortable, or triggering questions and comments can come up;

Maintain empathy and respect.
Have a support system to reflect with and lean on.
Understand it's okay to not have all the answers but don't leave an individual to figure it out on there own.

Benefits

c6kym — 2025-04-28 01:59:51 UTC

~Normalize conversations and encourage conversations around mental health.

~Provide students with opportunities to critically analyze and reflect on how storytellers use both text and visuals to convey and co-create meaning with the reader.

~Provide students with stories that are mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, especially if we are to take a critical literacy lens to the ways mental health intersects with other pieces of a person's identity.

To Mel

c6kym — 2025-04-28 02:50:42 UTC

To Mel - I will continue to share your story in hopes that one day, individuals will be able to get the care and support they need, without being turned away.