What was the initiative? 

Aawaaz is an arts-based mental health education initative with three pillars: working with marginalized student populations, working with educators, principals, school leadership and mothers, and working to bridge mental health and winter sports in mountainous communities. Through each of these pillars, curriculums and materials were created to be contextually responsive and included engaging in the arts for thoughtful, holistic engagement. Over 250 students and 290+ educators participated in Aawaaz programming across 4 cities within Pakistan.  

Aawaaz was initially developed as a mental health education program which utilized arts-based methodologies specifically for students in katchi aabadis or slum, squatter settlements, but evolved to cater to wide variety of audiences and organizations. Organizations such as The Right to Play, The Aga Khan University, as well as The Kiran Foundation and more partnered with Aawaaz throughout the year. 

Pakistan’s first ringette and mental health program was also launched under the Aawaaz program! 

What was the community connection? 

Sara-Maya worked in Pakistan on two occasions prior to her fellowship, and both times, she was inspired to return and create a more intentional approach to mental health education, seeing the high rates of suicide and mental distress that she witnessed – as well as seeing what mistakes she had made the first time.  

Sara Maya’s community partners were constantly evolving and shifting due to factors outside of her control. Pakistan is a country facing economic instability and the volatility of the region, especially around election time, meant that plans and locations for programming were constantly shifting. This allowed her to connect with community partners in shorter or longer term engagements across the country, ranging from charities, community schools, teacher-education universities, local and international NGOS, and more! 

How was it innovative? 

Aawaaz was made with 4 core principles at its centre: 

1. Everyone deserves opportunities to engage in the arts
2. Everyone is inherently artistic
3. Mental health education and discussions can be life-saving
4. The arts are an effective tool for communication and education 

These 4 principles were evident throughout all of Aawaaz programming across the country. Notably, Pakistan’s first ringette program, under the Aawaaz umbrella, prioritized off ice training in mental health, positive youth development, climate stewardship, and community leadership just as much as it prioritized ringette skill development.  

In a context in which conversations around mental health are considered taboo, and discussions around suicide are highly stigmatized, the need for fostering spaces in which holistic wellness is not only prioritized in a manner that builds capacity for participants to take learnings into their own professional and person communities is paramount. Aawaaz worked to try and address this need.  

While statistics were important to be able to prove impact, Aawaaz programming is much more concerned with the hearts and minds touched throughout the program. Participants shared stories of extremely difficult moments, include cases of suicide, rape, abuse, but just as much, shared stories of hope, resilience, courage and strength. In all this, the support that community members provided each other, both in terms of embracing vulnerability and showing up for others around them was a win for Aawaaz – it proved that safe spaces were successfully created.  

Teacher education is perhaps one of the spheres with the largest, and fastest, potential for change, as educators impact hundreds, if not thousands, of students over their career. Working with teachers to develop content that responded to the Pakistani context, as well as providing teachers with collaborative spaces to advocate for holistic wellness, was also a success for Aawaaz and the communities it operated in.  

What is Sara-Maya doing now? 

Sara-Maya is currently involved in youth development activities at a national level for youth across the country. She is hoping to tailor her further professional development to include more arts training, and is excited to co-launch the Fourth Space, an organization dedicated to holistic youth development soon!