HeART & Soul 2024/25

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Powerful artworks created by the Richmind WA community to overcome the distress of Christmas and New Year have been showcased in a new exhibition in Cannington and the South West.

Mar 31, 2025

3 mins

Check out this highlight video of our HeART and Soul Metro Exhbition

Art with heart: Richmind WA clients transform distress into creativity

Powerful artworks created by the Richmind WA community to overcome the distress of Christmas and New Year have been showcased in a new exhibition in Cannington.

The art initiative, HeART and Soul, was set up as a distraction for participants during the festive season, which can often be an overwhelming time for people who are grieving, enduring family breakdown, or living with poor mental health.

The program is the brainchild of Adele Stewart, a trained mental health nurse, who recognised a trend of increased rates of self-harm and suicide in spring and early summer in the lead-up to Christmas. Research also shows mental distress can continue into January.

“For many people, Christmas and New Year does not spark joy. It’s supposed to be a time of hope, a time of fresh beginnings, but for a lot of people it’s filled with dread,” said Ms Stewart, General Manager of Residential Services at Richmind WA.

“Christmas is a difficult time of the year for a lot of people, but particularly for the people we work with – a lot of them have lost connection to family. So, when Christmas is everywhere and all everyone is talking about, people can find it quite triggering. It can bring up difficult memories or overwhelming loneliness.”

“HeART and Soul was born as a distraction project and an opportunity for people to express how they’re feeling by doing something creative, purposeful and mindful.”

Adele Stewart

Since October, Richmind WA has hosted art therapy workshops across its services in Bassendean, Cannington, Rockingham, Albany and the South West, offering clients, volunteers and staff the opportunity to learn new skills, collaborate and create connections as part of the creative-therapeutic process.

It culminated in a private exhibition at Richmind WA in Cannington on January 30 where 75 artworks were displayed. The exhibition was also held in Bunbury more recently at Richmind WA’s Step Up Step Down service.

Among the displays is art created with yarn and different textiles, paint on canvas, charcoal works, watercolour and clay sculptures.

Art therapy is known to benefit those living with mental ill health by supporting neural development, encouraging a more positive mindset, social connection and emotional regulation, while lowering levels of distress and anxiety.

Art therapist Shona Robertson said feedback from the HeART & Soul workshops had revealed positive outcomes for many of the participants.

“Several participants shared that they felt they were able to express things differently and gained new insights because of these workshops,” she said.

It’s a way to uncover, share and communicate what you’re feeling without necessarily having to find the words. It can be particularly confronting for people who have mental health challenges or a trauma background to share how they feel, so art can act as a bridge to the next step by helping the artist to really understand what’s happening for them and being able to talk about it.

-Shona Robertson

“Often with talk-based therapies it can takes a long time to get to a place where you can communicate the root of what is happening for you. But with art therapy, you can often get to the cause of discomfort, concern or pain much quicker by accessing the unconscious mind through guided mark making.

“It can also very effective when working with children and young people, culturally and linguistically diverse groups and people with disabilities who may not have the language to convey how they are feeling.”

Ms Stewart said HeART and Soul, which first launched last year, had also proven an important tool for staff who are supporting clients during the difficult time.

“What we know is negative feelings manifest well into the new year so we wanted this project to continue past Christmas. The exhibition provides an additional layer to the program and a renewed sense of focus for participants who wish to showcase their works.”

Ms Stewart, who also supports a relative on a mental health journey, said the benefits experienced by participants in the art program had been personally significant.

“We have anecdotal evidence that many participants had a much better time this Christmas. They weren’t in as much distress and there were fewer incidents of self-harm, restricted eating and people isolating themselves because life felt too hard,” she said.

“Anything we can do to create a little bit of hope or an ability to look forward without huge pressure, is a step forward. We say: ‘Just be you and bring you’. That’s what this project is all about.”

Here’s what our participants had to say about HeART and Soul

I love working with different mediums. Changing things up a bit. Art helps free my mind, I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. Art has had a profound impact on my wellbeing. In the longer term I am definitely happier. I have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I feel healthier and I am looking forward.

My paintings reflect how I see things; they reflect my state of mind. Without art my mind goes everywhere but when I sit down everything goes into the one stroke. The HeART & Soul workshops have been very relaxed. They offer a safe space for us all. There is serenity in the room.

Engaging in artwork enables me to feel better, explore ideas, be curious, understand culture and helps me connect to my community and to myself. We would not be who we are if we didn’t have the ability to imagine.

Working with clay is very therapeutic; it feels like play… it feels like connecting to nature, something tangible. I don’t feel any pressure or anxiety when working with clay, it’s a good feeling and I usually give the pieces away as gifts.

Somehow, when I am doing my artwork regularly my voices are quieter, and it eases the voices. I am completely in the moment, sensing and feeling what I’m doing. I’m calmer in my body, I’m not jumpy and I don’t have anxiety attacks – doing the diamond art or making cards calms me down. My voices are aware of this, they know.