UNC Hospitals fights mental illness with arts opportunities

One of UNC’s hospitals is using art to challenge the stigma of mental illness.

Opening tonight with a reception, the “Brushes with Life: Art, Artists and Mental Illness” gallery at the N.C. Neurosciences Hospital features performance and visual art all created by patients.

The gallery — which started in 2000 — is sponsored by the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program, commonly called STEP. It originated as a form of art therapy — a technique that allows patients to express themselves.

Katy Heubel, a senior, is the president of ArtHeels, a university group that visits the N.C. Children’s Hospital to bring art and entertainment to sick children.

“We believe in the healing power of art,” she said.

ArtHeels use art therapy as a way to distract the patients from the fact that they are in the hospital, Heubel said.

“Art changes your mood, it gets your mind off things, it lets you express yourself,” she said.

Heubel said art therapy is a way to increase the effectiveness of their treatment and make patients more receptive to the treatment.

“Brushes with Life” will be displaying work from people receiving psychiatric treatment from the UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health, either through STEP or Outreach and Support Intervention Services, which focuses on young adults.

Members of Club Nova, an Orange County organization founded in 1987 for people with mental illness, will also have a chance to display their work.

Most of the gallery artwork is for sale, either in its original form or on note cards created by the center. The proceeds all go to the artists.

Alice Lockhart, director of communications for the department of psychiatry at the center, said in an email that 80 to 100 people generally attend the reception.

Heubel said the results of art therapy go beyond what is seen at the gallery.

She said that the effects of art therapy are biologically observable — producing art releases endorphins which give the feeling of well-being.

“I’ve had wonderful experiences that have convinced me that art should be a part of treatment here at UNC hospitals,” she said.

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.