POSITIVE images of mental health are in the hands of Teesside's children.
An exhibition to persuade people to rethink images of mental health issues features photographs of hundreds of youngsters' hands, each of them filled with a positive image drawn by the child.
Displayed in Middlesbrough's Market Hall for the next month, the Helping Hands exhibition is the work of young people in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and east Cleveland.
The completed work is suspended from the hall's ceiling on two 24ft by 12ft panels.
Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which organised the project, wants the display to raise awareness and reduce fear surrounding mental health problems by letting young people explore their own ideas about the issues.
Youngsters involved are from Dyke House and West View schools, Hartlepool; Hummersea and Rosecroft schools, Loftus; Archibald and Tollesby schools, Middlesbrough; and St John the Baptist and Grangefield schools, Stockton.
Also on board were West Lane staff nursery and North Tees and St Luke's adult mental health services.
Richard Deehan, community mental health nurse and project organiser, said: "I never ceased to be overawed by the enthusiasm, talent and willingness to respond to challenges by young people."
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