One Thousand Flags to Drive Awareness for Mental Health Month

If you walked along West Beach last Saturday, you may have noticed the arrangement of flags planted in the sand, just next to Stearns Wharf. The art installation was the work of Santa Barbara nonprofit Driving Awareness, who planted 1,000 flags in the beach to raise suicide awareness.

“What we’re trying to do is really normalize the conversation, let go of the judgment, let go of the fear, and just show up for yourself and have a conversation,” said Driving Awareness Cofounder David Maples. He and James Chavez worked to organize the flag installation along the beach as well as put up posters of shared stories from families affected by suicide.

The installation comes just in time for Mental Health Awareness month. Maples and Chavez pointed out the statistic that around 50,000 people die by suicide annually, one of the biggest driving factors for their art installation. Each flag represented 50 people, thus the planting of 1,000 flags. They chose the purple and teal colors given their association with suicide awareness and because they were visually stimulating.

“There’s a story within each of these flags,” Maples explained, hence the natural addition of posters with photos and stories. “It personalizes the numbers.”

As passersby walk or bike alongside the beach, they could see the planted flags and stop by to talk to Maples and Chavez, or read some of the stories on posters.

Maples explained that they were initially worried about the response they might receive reaching out to people to share loved ones’ stories. But in response to the amount of positive feedback he and Chavez received for their outreach, he pointed out, “[People] also want to advocate for awareness.”

Maples and Chavez officially started Driving Awareness in December 2024, and had their official launch event in March. Since then, they have created an open space at the Unitarian Church on Tuesday evenings for community members to come by and have conversations surrounding mental health.

Their focus on men’s mental health has opened up greater conversations about vulnerability and healing with others. The goal of both Driving Awareness and of their work is to create safe spaces for people to show up and talk about their troubles with mental health. In order to make a greater impact, they emphasized the need to start local and to simply start and normalize the conversation.

“Our whole emphasis is embodiment, breathwork, and modern science,” Chavez explained. Using the example of meditation, he walked through some of the initial skepticism he’s noticed through others about meditation as a means of healing. Thus by working with all three emphases, Driving Awareness encourages people to consider the impact small actions can have on mental health.

The installation is just one step forward that Driving Awareness is taking to continue raising awareness and normalizing mental health conversations. For both Maples and Chavez, the flags are part of their starting point at raising awareness at a local level.

“It puts vulnerability as a strength, not a weakness,” Chavez said.

For more information about Driving Awareness and their upcoming events, visit drivingawareness.org.