On March 20, some patients from the Douglas Hospital exhibited their works at Café Frejus in collaboration with the Wellington Center.
Therapy through art
Douglas Hospital patients hold exhibit
Last Thursday, about twenty patients from the Douglas University Hospital for mental health presented their works during an exhibit at Café Frejus. They created their works of art at the Wellington Center, an activity that significantly helps improve their well-being during their recovery.
Patients and former talented patients of the Douglas Center displayed their art to the public. The exhibit’s theme was Les sports dans la vie (sports as part of life). Verdun Mayor Claude Trudel was one of the visitors who helped contribute to the patients’ feelings of social acceptance. This is an important step in achieving self-confidence and in facilitating their recovery.
Luce Garcia, who is responsible for the painting and card workshops, said these exhibits give patients the opportunity to be with their families and to be encouraged by them; they also receive encouragement from the staff of Wellington Center , the hospital, and from members of the public who may not know them.
Ease the suffering
Financed by the Douglas Hospital, the Wellington Center offers courses and workshops to patients who are suffering or who have recently experienced mental problems or who simply had some bad luck. Painting, handicrafts, ceramics, woodwork, do-it-yourself projects, and others are among those courses being offered.
Mrs. Garcia revealed that art contributes to the process of a patient’s re-integration into society. Mary Diane Shorten Gagnon, for example, takes courses and works at the Wellington Center. For her, painting is a way of expressing her emotions, because she finds it hard to do otherwise. “Painting is a gift: one can work with shapes and colors and create whatever one desires. When a person is feeling low, the colors gray, black and white can be used to reflect this mood. When one is happy, the colors red, blue and yellow are used.”
Mrs. Garcia understands how patients can make full use of art to minimize their hurt, but she does not think of them as sick people. “It is important, I find, to offer them the opportunity to explore art. They have a lot of talent; I actually look at them as artists.”
Josée Robillard, another artist from the Douglas Institute and who practices at the Wellington Center is delighted about having discovered a passion. “At the center, they started by giving me simple things to paint which I copied. Then they asked me to paint something new. I did a background and that’s how I started. It’s an uplifting activity and that has given me more self-confidence.”
More liberating artistic activities
The Wellington Center is offering other projects for the well-being of its members. On February 12, a collective exhibit was held at Place des Arts. One hundred patients from the Wellington Center and from three other hospitals set up their works on display. In May and June, other exhibits are scheduled, with one evening dedicated to poetry. Mrs. Garcia observed that this type of event fulfills and encourages these artists. “They feel that they’re working towards a goal and that their paintings will not just remain on the drawing boards.”
On March 20, some patients from the Douglas Hospital exhibited their works at Café Frejus in collaboration with the Wellington Center. Their art makes them feel better about themselves and to recover more quickly.
photo Martin A. Chamberland
Steven Guilbeault - 
