Narratives QC hosts first Creative Arts Showcase

Words have transformational power to change lives. The nonprofit Narratives QC knows this well.

On Wednesday, May 1, 2024 at 6 p.m., Narratives QC invites the community to its inaugural Creative Arts Showcase, an inspiring evening of spoken word and poetry performed by local young adults at the Rock Island Public Library’s Watts-Midtown Branch, 2715 30th St.

The organization believes every young adult deserves to reach his or her full potential and, through mentors, life coaching and creative expression, empowers them to find their purpose and achieve success.

The Creative Arts Showcase marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Month in May and celebrates the profound impact of expressive arts on emotional well-being, particularly for young adults ages 17-25. During the event, participants of Narratives QC’s programs will share their personal stories and creative poems, highlighting their journeys and the therapeutic benefits of spoken word.

Thanks to a generous grant from Quad City Arts in partnership with the Rock Island Library, the event is free to the public.

Narratives programs are all free — based at The House, a nondenominational church, at 2623 5th Ave., Rock Island. The middle of the building is used by QC Closet2Closet.

Young adults are paired with trained life coaches for individualized support based on their strengths, weaknesses, and life goals.

Narratives supports young adults who have mental health issues, addiction, and trauma find the most adaptive ways to function with their mental illness and not let that hinder their success in life. When paired with life coaching and community mentors, mental health support helps young adults change their lives more significantly than any one aspect alone, according to the group website.

Group classes provide education in a safe environment on topics that the entire group needs to achieve their goals. Topics may include money management, cooking, employment coaching and skills, study skills, and basic daily living skills.

Growth over four years

Narratives started right before the pandemic in early 2020, mainly meeting virtually.

“We were all-volunteer staff up until last year, and we’ve exploded in the number of young adults, staff and programming,” co-founder and executive director Annette Clevenger said Tuesday, noting they served 75 people last year. “It has just taken off.”

There are also some groups they run in the community, such as at Black Hawk College and the Thurgood Marshall Learning Center. Narratives also plans to expand to Scott Community College.

The mission is to empower young adults in that transition from youth to adulthood, Clevenger said. “We work with them on a variety of things, to help them find their voice and their path to success.”

That includes education, employment, housing, life skills, relationships, cooking classes.

Narratives uses spoken word and transformational writing to encourage the young adults to express themselves and find healing and solutions.

“They’re working through the struggles of life – mental health, relationships, anything, you name it,” Clevenger said.

The Wednesday event is the culmination of the past year’s work, made to be very inclusive. Not all the people will perform or read their pieces — some will have work read on behalf of them, or shown by video.

“The goal is to get their word out – they have wonderful things to contribute to the community,” Clevenger said. “We want that to be heard, in whatever form they’re most comfortable doing it.”

Narratives has two full-time staff (including Clevenger, a clinical psychologist) and two part-time staff, plus life coaches, who meet with young adults, in group and one-on-one counseling sessions. They meet weekly on Wednesday nights, including a free meal.

They host a spoken word group, a women’s empowerment group, a board games group and Bible study. It’s all based on what the young people want, Clevenger said.

All programs free

The programs are all free, because most of them can’t afford it and don’t have insurance coverage.

There’s typically a three-month waiting list to access traditional mental health services in the area, and young people prefer the group therapy format, Clevenger said.

“We have to find creative ways for them to tackle their mental health issues, that don’t look like the conventional sit-down therapy,” she said. “Research shows that group settings are actually more beneficial therapeutically, but most mental health centers don’t use them because insurance won’t pay for it.”

Hearing that you’re not alone in struggles of depression and anxiety is the main benefit to group settings, Clevenger said. “Just having peer support and connection, and also it’s therapeutic to be a sounding board for each other.”

Life coaches have backgrounds in social services, but are not psychologists like Clevenger. One part-time employee is Chris Britton, a creative arts specialist who will be part of Wednesday’s event.

He works at Thurgood Marshall Learning Center, Rock Island; holds a B.A. in youth ministry & adolescent studies and a master’s in leadership in ministry from Judson University. Britton served the community for over 15 years as a director at YouthHope.

“What young adults want is for us to be genuine, real and authentic, kind of do life with them in a meaningful way,” Clevenger said. “We are not looking to take the place of any counselors in the community. We are about providing extra mental health support and we are about prevention.”

There is a tendency for greater mental health challenges in early adulthood, and many people Narratives sees have dropped out of high school or college, or don’t have a satisfying job and need to complete a GED, she said.

“Anything we can do to lower that risk can help them for years to come,” she said.

Partnering with other groups

Narratives is partnering with spoken word artist Aubrey Barnes and his group Young Lions Roar to present another creative open-mic showcase for Juneteenth, June 19, at Theo’s Java Cafe in downtown Rock Island. That will include younger kids from his program.

“Because this has become so popular and effective, we are actually looking to expand and become a therapy modality,” Clevenger said. They’re applying for a grant to have Britton trained to incorporate spoken word and hip-hop into therapy.

“Currently, the focus is just on the writing and performing. With Chris, there’s a whole another layer that we can provide, of understanding the meaning and benefits, exploring finding healing from trauma, in your native language,” she said.

“It has found to be really effective in urban areas,” Clevenger said. “We are so big into partnerships here at Narratives.”

In early April, Narratives hosted another event at Watts-Midtown Branch for National Poetry Month.

“Our goal is to get our young adults into the community and the community involved in our young adults,” Clevenger said. “We’re trying to expand.”

Narratives is working with some business partners to help offer employment or job skills.

They are funded by grants and private donations. Narratives had its first fundraiser this past winter at the MLK Center, Rock Island, and hope to hold another one this fall.

“We work on building community, so they trust each other,” Clevenger said of the group sessions. “They’re learning to trust their peers, which allows them to be more vulnerable and more transparent to, compared with someone they just walk in every week to, and I’m supposed to spill my guts, my most personal things?”

Gave up own business

Clevenger gave up her 20-year-old private family practice for Narratives, because she saw too many young people falling through cracks in the social safety net. The community is strong in serving K-12 kids, the elderly and people coming out of prison, but there are very few preventive services aimed at young adults, she said.

“I gave it up four years ago,” she said. A 1995 Rock Island High alum, she earned her bachelor’s in psychology and sociology from Illinois State, and doctorate in clinical psychology from Wheaton College.

“With the shortage of mental health services, I felt compelled to do something different and better,” Clevenger said. She and co-founder Jessica McCracken visited an organization in Springfield, Mo., helping youth transition from foster care, and were inspired.

“One of their biggest struggles was mental health needs of young adults,” Clevenger said. “We toured this program like five years ago, thought it was phenomenal and thought we could replicate that here in the Quad Cities, and expand on it.”

“It shouldn’t just be for young adults aging out of foster care,” she said, noting Narratives fits the needs of the QC, open to anyone in that age group.

Problems of technology

People were isolated before the pandemic, which just added to mental health problems, Clevenger said.

More than the pandemic, technology today isolates and hurts young adults. “We hide behind it — the connection is not there. We don’t sit down, one on one, talking,” she said.

“We gain convenience, but we lose connection,” Clevenger said of tools like texting, email and social media. “People hide behind anonymity. It distances you — you don’t see the person and you don’t see the pain, the reaction that your words cause. It gives you license to say things mentally that you shouldn’t.”

The Wednesday night sessions started last summer — starting with a 6 p.m. dinner, with a second class starting at 7 p.m. They plan to expand to another weeknight, including outdoor activities this summer.

Life coaches are very similar to mentors, along the lines of an adult Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“That’s the best thing I could liken it to,” Clevenger said. “You hang out with somebody at the ball park, having coffee, you join them in going fishing. You take an interest, encourage them, support them the way you would a friend.”

“The best part of my job is, we celebrate their successes, so we are regularly having graduation parties here, or when you get a new job,” she said.

Narratives ideally would like to produce a book this fall collecting the writing of many of their clients. For more information on the group, click HERE.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.