Today I want to talk about an aspect of that Gallery that not many people know about and that is our outreach programs. Like the Art Heals program at the hospital.

The gallery visits the children’s ward as well as the adolescent psychiatric assessment unit twice a week for 1 ½ hour art sessions in each.
Working with children in the paediatric unit has instant gratification. The third floor with teens awaiting psychiatric assessment is a completely different scenario.
Imagine this - a table full of teens, out of their element living the unknown but still in that mode of okay so try to impress me.

A month or so ago I interviewed a 16 yr old girl who’d been in the unit for almost 2 months working through her assessment & diagnosis. The part about artheals she loved the most was that the teacher was facilitating art and not doing art therapy - she looked forward to the sessions and felt that it really helped her self-confidence which helped with her healing process.

She now attends art classes, is an active volunteer and is entertaining a future in the arts. This girl’s success is also our measured success – one that we have been able to witness because she is so actively involved in the Gallery. The other success stories are not so easily tracked because of confidentiality and locations – as far away as Prince Rupert.

Success can only be really measured during the Artheals session and that success is measured by attitude shifts, engagement with the art making process that might include a genuine smile or two.

Art works in many ways.