JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new mural was unveiled on Jacksonville’s Eastside Saturday to bring more awareness to mental health and the resources available to the community.
The OutEast mural is located on the side of the Police Athletic League (JaxPAL) building on Franklin Street.
The multicolored piece of art has images of children and words that read “keep growing, inspire and believe.” It was painted by Heartspace Art.
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“I like that it says keep growing,” Nirhya Anderson, who is in the PAL program said. “I like the bounce houses and it makes me happy.”
The art reveal was done in collaboration with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, PAL and Hearts 4 Minds, Inc. which is an organization dealing with breaking the stigma of mental health.
“Hearts 4 Minds started over six years ago on the one-year anniversary of the death of my son Alex, “Sheryl Johnson, the founder of Hearts 4 Minds, said. “He passed away at age 22. He was battling depression and anxiety.”
The mural is meant to bring more awareness to mental health and the resources available to the community.
To find out what those are, people can scan QR codes located on the painting, which will then take them to this website.
Rashonda Randolph, the program manager for PAL helped to put on the event Saturday and said this mural will be beneficial to the area.
“Well for me it’s special because it’s also my community,” Randolph said. “So having children have an understanding of their mental health their community unity love peace and hope that’s what it means for me.”
Sheriff T.K Waters also attended the unveiling. While there he spoke about how in 2018 the issue of mental health affected someone in his family, and it took him a long time to face it, because of the stigma associated with it.
“When you’re dealing with struggles, when you’re struggling with things, it’s good to talk to people,” Sheriff Waters said. “Professionals, people that can help you deal with those issues and with those thoughts. And I’d say in the Black community or any community, don’t be ashamed.”
Also at Saturday’s mural reveal, PAL announced there will be a baseball field coming to that area. It’ll be located on their property and should be operational this coming spring.