Kids on the Block (KOTB) is an educational puppetry program that uses life-sized, multicultural puppets to promote mental wellness for children. The presentations are designed to help children understand their feelings and encourage communication of problems or stressors that affect them at home, school, and in other venues. KOTB serves as a non-threatening vehicle through which children can articulate issues that they might otherwise feel uncomfortable talking about.
Kids on the Block puppet troupes have performed successfully all over the world since 1977. For the last ten years, Mental Health America of Georgia has offered this early intervention program to schools and communities around the state. The KOTB program also addresses cultural factors that affect health, such as stigma, that are especially prevalent in the African-American, Asian, and Latino populations in Georgia. Lesson scripts promote an understanding of diversity and wellness through a curriculum that emphasizes help-seeking behaviors and coping skills.
