What if learning about mental health, stress and emotional regulation felt less like sitting through a presentation and more like walking through an art exhibit or carnival?
That’s the idea behind the Emotional Endurance Carnival, a new interactive experience from Cincinnati-based Sprouting Change, debuting September 12 and 13 in Fort Thomas before heading to its next stop in Missouri.
The Emotional Endurance Carnival provides an environment where people can explore the space between stimulus and response and learn practical, healthy ways to cope with the day-to-day triggers that activate the nervous system.
In short, it’s a playground for the realities of being human… and Northern Kentucky gets to experience it first.
“We say we want to disrupt the way systems and institutions think about mental health, but we realized that meant disrupting the way we teach it, too,” said Crimson MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Sprouting Change. “We all talk about wanting to respond instead of react. But where do we actually get to practice that? The Carnival gives people a place to experience that space between what happens to us and what we do next.”
The idea grew from MacDonald and co-founder Laurie Sharp-Page’s work around Emotional Endurance and their Emotional Endurance Movement. After taking that work into workplaces, organizations and conferences, they began questioning why conversations about mental health and professional development still so often happen through presentations.
Their answer was to build something different.
Part interactive exhibit, part immersive experience and part experiential learning, the Carnival brings emotional regulation to life through games, sensory experiences, movement and hands-on activities.
“For years as a therapist, I’ve helped people understand their reactions and practice healthier ways of responding,” Sharp-Page said. “But talking about a coping skill and experiencing it in your own body are very different things. The Carnival gives people a playground to experiment, be curious and discover what works for their own nervous system and have some fun doing it.”
Participants learn what happens inside the nervous system during stress and then move through interactive exhibits exploring everyday triggers, grounding, boundaries, sensory regulation, movement, connection and practical coping skills.
And the experience isn’t intended to end when people leave the Carnival. Sprouting Change connects the lessons of the experience to COPE365, its practical tool designed to help people continue building and practicing emotional skills in everyday life.
The Fort Thomas event will serve as the first public run before the Carnival heads to Missouri and expands into conferences, workplaces, organizations and professional development events.
“We built this here, so it felt right that our community should experience it first,” MacDonald said. “Fort Thomas gets the sneak preview before we take it on the road.”
Event Information:
Emotional Endurance Carnival
September 12–13, 2026
Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Tickets and information: eecarnival.com
About Sprouting Change:
Sprouting Change, founded by Crimson MacDonald and Laurie Sharp-Page, creates practical, experiential approaches to emotional endurance. Through COPE365, the Emotional Endurance Movement and the Emotional Endurance Carnival, Sprouting Change works with individuals, workplaces and organizations to make mental health education and professional development practical, approachable and usable in everyday life.
