KVIA Anchors Show Off Their Coloring Skills In Support Of Mental Health Awareness

When was the last time you picked up a crayon and colored? For me, it’s been years but I sure do miss the feeling that I would get when I would color and I was able to forget about my worries, even if it was for just a few minutes.

The morning crew over at KVIA were able to forget about the hard news, even if for a few minutes, and showed off their coloring skills last week in support of a new mental health awareness initiative created by The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

“Meet Little Monster” is the title of the mental health coloring book that was created by NAMI’s State Organization NAMI Washington as a way for young kids to talk openly about their mental health issues. The local affiliate, NAMI of El Paso, has been distributing these mental health coloring books to schools across the Borderland.

According to NAMI El Paso Executive Director Isidro Torres, the pandemic had a huge impact on everyone’s mental health but right now there is a bigger impact among our youth.

The mental health coloring book was created for young children as a tool for them to express and explore their feelings in a fun, creative and empowering way. The coloring book is also meant to create a comfortable dialogue between children and the adults in their lives that they feel comfortable talking with.

"The earlier (kids) are able to express their symptoms, the earlier they'll get help, and the better the turnout will be," Torres said.

Although the coloring book is meant for children, KVIA’s Good Morning El Paso anchors, Mauricio Casillas and Hillary Floren, were able to take a break from reporting the hard news to show off their coloring skills and get in on the mental health fun during a commercial break.

The rest of the Good Morning El Paso crew also got in on the coloring fun and the end results would have art aficionado’s screaming “IT’S A MASTERPIECE!”

The “Meet Little Monster” coloring book is available for download to families, organizations, teachers and young people across the country at no-cost in English as well as Spanish. Local educators can also request copies of the coloring book by contacting NAMI of El Paso.