This Mental Health Awareness Week (September 23 - 29), Toi Ora is launching three t-shirts with the funds supporting people in mental health recovery to have free and professional art tuition.
Creativity has long been recognised as a powerful tool for enhancing mental health recovery. Toi Ora offers 24, creative classes from print-making to poetry, giving participants, recognised as artists, the freedomto express themselves through their chosen medium.
This fundraiser was born from within the Toi Ora community with an artist suggesting the idea. The t-shirt designs are by three Toi Ora artists with the community voting for their favourite designs.
The winning artists are Andrew Blythe, Nikki Dixon and Lance Setephano all from Auckland. The artists have been coming to Toi Ora to work on their creativity, and through doing that, it allows them to be present and in the moment.
“I've painted and done bone carvings and sculptures for about the last 30 years or so being creative helps me to stay grounded,” says Lance Setephano, “It is something I love, it gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”
The campaign is grassroots with artists in mental health recovery finding a way to give back to the organisation that provided a safe haven for them while they were working through some health challenges.
“Mental health, like physical health, will affect everyone from time to time, and yet there is still a huge stigma around it,” says Susanne Ritzenhoff, Toi Ora Director.
“Exploring creativity takes courage, it explores our feelings and fosters expression. The more you practice creativity the more you have. People in mental health recovery have much to contribute to the art world, as their inner worlds are well developed Our t-shirt campaign, makes art created by Toi Ora artists even more accessible, and the funds will help us to continue providing free art classes to support more artists like the ones who designed these t- shirts.”
Founded in 1995 by a group with lived experience with mental health challenges, Toi Ora has small class sizes limited to only 15 people per class. A trained Level 4 Mental Health worker is there to assist when stress or mental challenges occur and all staff are provided with de- escalation training.
Purchase a t-shirt and support people in mental health recovery here www.toiora.org.nz
About Toi Ora:
Toi Ora is an award-winning community arts trust providing a creative space and learning opportunities for people using mental health services and residents in the Auckland District Health Board area. We provide a participatory arts programme for people 17 years and older. Registration enables people to access our classes and workshops free of charge. Our goal is to allow people to create work that is meaningful to them and explore, develop and extend their skills. Our gallery space hosts exhibitions for the public to appreciate our artists' work.