My second visit to Copper Country Mental Health was carrying a carpet roll of 26 Art Quilts...or Art Therapy quilts to be more exact. My Lady is being showcased for Recovery Month at this healing space.
Shelly and Joe were terrific in orchestrating where the quilts were to be hung. It was decided to not put them in numerical order, but to have them be placed randomly and for it to be a surprise as to what each mean and their order. I liked this idea.
Rick was our measuring man, keeping things in balance and so easy to work with...Everyone who happened by had comments and interest. I love that my lady was catching attention...
A good team, fun quilts and wonderful wall space...and it is my hope they will inspire and lend courage to those who are healthy enough to realize the help that can be gotten here.
My lady engaging the sitting area with their color and content...part of the recovery conversation.
This is space is as you enter into the building. I think the quilts do a wonderful job welcoming all!
It is my hope they bring a softer tone to a place often filled with stigma and shame...at least for those of us who are in need of their services.
And, you have to wonder how we, society as a rule, have it so wrong...that it is shameful to admit we need help, that we are not able to handle our lives and our truths.
My Lady is bringing the public eye to a space that is typically protected and private, and feels even that I am hanging quilts in spaces often kept in the dark...bringing artful color and loud boldness to clinical hushed tones.
There is even a small fear that the 'public' will mix with the 'private' and that it will cause 'discomfort' and, for us not to advertise or to open up general traffic, so that the privacy can be maintained...
Meaning, to offer this display to the public, will draw to much of the general public to this space...a space where folks like to keep their mental illness private.
However, it is my humble opinion, that most of the public is/was or will be in need of these services...if not now, then at some point in their future. Mental Health is for all, not just the most wounded among us.
I would love for My Lady and I, to begin the process of normalizing the look of those in need of Mental Health. To stop the judgement against those who are willing and able to admit, their lives and their minds are in need of a second opinion.
I even believe, that my quilts, if allowed to be advertised in a public way, would bring folks into offices in which people are too scared to enter....to admit, that they could use an ear to listen or help with locating helpful services that will restore balance.
Perhaps we could all start entering this space as we do a dentist. We don't let our teeth go untreated, due to the fear of being recognized that we have neglected our mouths, and yet our minds somehow have been tagged with a negative connotation.
And really, who among us can state that they have always had a clear mind, that they have never had troubles with their lives, their choices, and their truths, that their history has been a clean slate of pure brilliance and perfection?
I truly believe that we all could use extra help. That if we paid attention to our mental health, our emotional and physical would take care of itself.
So....that being said, I highly suggest we all take a stroll through Copper Country Mental Health and begin to neutralize the stigma of Mental Health.
And, you know what came to me....that when you can recognize and own that your mental health isn't quite right, you are on the road to recovery.
(Perhaps there should be a sign only the Perfect need not enter. We somehow believe that it is failing to be imperfect. And, as you know, It is impossible to be imperfect....for even the word says, I'm Perfect!)
