In the CARING model, highly trained child psychiatry residents, art therapists, artists, and other mental health professionals work directly with children where the children feel safe and secure – in schools or in closely affiliated community programs in their school districts – providing them with safe outlets for creative self-expression that offer options, opportunities and hope.

The basis of the CARING model is the manual, Learning To Cope With Stress Through Art: An Ethnic Sensitive Model, which explores themes in three areas – Feelings About Ourselves; Feelings About Our Community; and, Saying Goodbye to Groups and Things in Life.

CARING focuses on bolstering children’s sense of self and helps them recognize their inherent strengths and learn new ones. Children learn about ‘feeling helpers’ – activities that they enjoy doing such as sports and games that can help them de-stress during difficult situations.

Children learn to identify their culture and the special qualities of that culture, which becomes another source of strength and support.

Children learn to express themselves within a group arts community, which symbolizes their larger school community, their neighborhood, and the world. They learn to understand similarities and accept differences. They are encouraged to find their own uniqueness and to learn that the life of the group sometimes may take precedence over one’s own needs.