MARIETTA - Today is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, and therapists in Cobb are looking to bring to light the mental health issues children face and the need for support.

May is Mental Health Month, and today marks the fifth annual Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.

Cobb art therapist Teresa Harris will be visiting Mt. Bethel United Methodist's preschool class to help them learn how to appropriately express their emotions, something she works on with kids ages 3 to 18.

Harris, owner of Art It Out Therapy Services, LLC on Powers Ferry Road, said art therapy is a way in which children can express their emotions more naturally through art.

"Children, doing the art for them is just natural. It's natural, it's easy and it's non-threatening," Harris said "For children who have trouble communicating, art therapy can be really helpful for them. Many children don't want to go to a therapist and just talk, so they come and do art and we can sort of sneak in the talking."

Harris tells children what to draw, paint or create, and then uses the work of art to initiate a conversation about how they are feeling. For example, she said if a child draws a picture of a family and members are spaced far apart from each another it's easier for them to explain the drawing than talk about what is actually going on in the family. If children are holding back feelings, Harris said she will have them create a mask and paint the feelings they are outwardly expressing on the outside of the mask and the feelings they are experiencing on the inside on the inside of their mask.

"Then we'll talk about how they can let those inside feelings out in an appropriate way," Harris said.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, at least one in five children and adolescents have a mental health disorder. These disorders range from emotional to behavioral to mental, and can include things like anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, conduct and eating disorders.

Harris mainly works with children with anxiety, ADHD, anger management issues and those suffering with a major life-changing event, like the divorce of their parents.

Harris' colleague, Amanda Dellinger, with Therapeutic Associates, LLC, also on Powers Ferry Road, often works with sexual abuse victims and children dealing with various life-changing traumas.

Dellinger works with kids ages 3 to 17. With the younger kids, she employs a technique similar to art therapy, called play therapy.

"Play is like the language children have," Dellinger said. "And with that being said, toys are the natural vocabulary."

Dellinger has both an office and a playroom stocked with dolls, dollhouses, art supplies and puppets. She said her strategy is to let a child choose a toy and how he or she wants to play with it, and then she looks for themes in behavior.

Dellinger can spot an issue and help a child and their parents work through it.

Harris urged parents and teachers to be on the lookout at an early age for warning signs of possible mental health issues, which include holding in anger or not communicating it, explosive anger, having trouble responding to peers or feelings of not fitting in.

She also said anxiety is rather prevalent in many of her patients, such as a child not wanting to go to school or being worried about interacting with peers.

Harris' goal for working with children is to help them learn healthy ways of expressing their feelings.

"Again, they have really strong feelings about the situation and need help expressing it. Giving them a healthy outlet to express the emotions is what we do through art," Harris said.

Harris said this year is the first time the American Art Therapy Association is collaborating with the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to celebrate Awareness Day. The two groups are encouraging therapists throughout the nation to lead young children in art activities to initiate conversations between adults and young children about expressing their feelings.