OCD, anxiety, substance abuse: How art can heal mental illness | Freethink

OCD, anxiety, substance abuse: How art can heal mental illness | Freethink

– Painting for me provides
that sense of control that my mental illness robs me of. Super excited to have
everybody here with us today and appreciative. We started this with two things
in mind: to try to change the conversation around mental health, and bring creativity to people,
because it can be life-changing. Creativity is something
that can help everybody. And mental health is something
that impacts everybody. How about if the answer
to mental health issues in this world, is
prescribing more creativity? – This is “Catalysts,” a show
about the changemakers tackling our biggest problems. – I grew up here in Rhode
Island and I was a good athlete. I was recruited by the Ohio
State University and went there on scholarship to play tennis. I’m a junior at college and
tried to compete at the highest level, and you know, my
mind was being overtaken by these terrible obtrusive thoughts— fear, panic, misunderstanding. Found my way to a, you know, a psychiatric hospital,
hospital, and you know, and, you know, immediately was diagnosed with OCD. I did what I think any
good athlete would do. You know, I sucked it up,
and I got worse. It impacted my life significantly. I’m coming home from work
one day, and somebody calls me and says, “Hey, Jeff, I heard painting might
be good for your health. Why don’t you try it?” I never painted a day, in my damn life! But you know, when you’re
desperate, you’ll try anything. So I rerouted, went to
the paint supply store and picked up lots of supplies; came home and you’re looking at the
Forrest Gump of painting. Never stopped. The first time I picked up a
paintbrush, it felt damn good, even though I had no clue
what the hell I was doing. And to have your soul invigorated,
even for a little while, can be life-changing. I said, “You know, look I paint.” I said, “It makes me feel good.” I said, “Maybe it’ll help somebody else.” At that point we started
our nonprofit early on. We would take it anywhere. Next thing you know, we
get hundreds of requests, and we are impacting a
100,000 people. – So this is an expressive arts workshop. We’re going to go on a journey together. I’m Jose Rosario, and I will be facilitating this. PeaceLove is a nonprofit that provides different types of
expressive arts experiences for folks to make stuff and feel better. But we do that through
different art modalities. So things like painting
and music and writing. Today, we’re going to be working with the shoes in front of you,
and these will be your canvas. Anything you want to do, anything you want to use on this table— it is your journey to go on. Folks are going to be
participating in story shoes today. Basically, what we do is we put
out a shoe in front of them and we tell them, “We want you to create a story on the shoe
that represents your journey.” – I think creating art is one
of the most vulnerable things you could possibly do, and I’m
not particularly an artist, so it’s always nerve-racking, but I’m really excited to be
in the present moment for once, and not worry about anything other than what I’m currently working on. – I can actually take a breath. I don’t have to worry about the kids. I don’t have to worry about the business. It’s kind of my time. And in this moment, you can
reprioritize what’s important. – Really excited about today because hopefully I can learn new tools as to how to use my creativity, to help me with my anxieties. – You invite people into a
safe space where there is no judgment that allows people
to utilize their creativity as a way to express themselves. And somehow that gives you
the courage to just, ‘be,’ and once you can just be, then you have the opportunity
to find some peace of mind. – I’d wear ’em.
– You will wear them? – I’d wear ‘em, sure. – When I’m watching people in a workshop, the reason I probably light
up and I get so excited and so emotional is I relate to every single
one of those people. I relate to the struggle,
I relate to the pain. I relate to the hope they feel. I relate to how creativity
and touching it, feeling it, is changing them. That’s a beautiful thing. – This is my shoe. I really like all the nature
pieces, and a part of my journey is I’m a person in long-term
recovery from substance use. Um, so I got really disconnected from what used to make me happy. And that was playing in the
woods and being a kid and being connected with nature, and when
I finally came to recovery, I really, I rerooted myself into nature. I feel like it’s one of the
only places in the world where I could feel fully present, and like
look down at both of my feet and everything that’s
surrounding me, all the foliage, the moss, the flowers. It’s just very beautiful. – You know, I’m learning
a lot about myself, just being that poor kid
growing up and not wanting to be poor, and now success
looks like being happy. – And then I kind of left the
rest of the shoe blank of— this is the rest of my life
that I get to figure out. – What happened today was
incredible and, like, special. We saw a bunch of strangers
coming in, completely unsure what to expect
and the ways in which they were able to connect with each
other when they were sharing and when they were creating, and then when they were
presenting their shoe, I mean, we saw real human connection happening. That’s healing in action. And that’s the magic of the
work that we’re doing here. – Wellness and hope comes
sometimes in the smallest stroke, or you know, piece of creativity. It’s the little things. And what we’ve been able to do
through those experiences is give people opportunity to
maybe have one of those moments. And those moments can
change someone’s life. I’ve been doing this for
12 years and, you know, different variations and
different workshops and different experiences, but it
all has one underlying, you know, commonality. At the end of the day, you see the beauty of people
finding some peace of mind, of finding some hope, some
relief, some courage— all the things that are just so wonderful. Everybody is a creator, we
all have it within ourselves. Challenge is to tap into it, take advantage of it and utilize it, and you know, if we can inject more creativity into our lives, there is no better medicine.

Can creativity solve our mental health crisis?
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Up next ►► Wilderness therapy: A path to healing for veterans https://youtu.be/fFEtvSjn0I4

Jeff Sparr was a 20-year-old star player on the Ohio State University men’s tennis team when his mental health issues first flared up. The anxiety was so intense that it landed Sparr in a psychiatric hospital where he was quickly diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Years later, Sparr was driving home from work one day when a friend called him and mentioned that many people suffering from mental wellness issues find solace in artistic expression, specifically painting. Jeff decided to take a detour home and stock up on paint supplies in search for one last solution that may bring him peace of mind.

The results of painting were so profound that it inspired Jeff to formalize the practice to help others also struggling with mental illness. PeaceLove, a non-profit that fosters mental wellness through art and creativity, was founded. The foundation has been successfully spreading the gospel of expressive arts for 12 years now.

Read the full story here ►►https://www.freethink.com/series/catalysts/creativity-for-mental-health

This video was created in partnership with Stand Together.

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Read more of our stories on mental health:
Should police respond to mental health crises?
►► https://www.freethink.com/social-change/crisis-intervention
Architects design new mental health facilities with healing in mind
►► https://www.freethink.com/health/neuroaesthetics
The rise of virtual therapy
►► https://www.freethink.com/ftm_episode/teletherapy

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