By DEBORAH E. LANS
HUDSON–The truth is that no one is untouched by mental health disorders. Some are more serious than others, and some are manifested by substance use disorders. One in every five individuals (roughly 60 million Americans) lives with a mental health disorder at some time in his life, and the families of those individuals are inevitably affected as well. Almost 50% of all adolescents (13-18 year olds) experience some form of issue, and 22.2% suffer what the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) classifies as a “serious” mental health disorder, meaning one that seriously impairs the ability to function. NIMH says that only two-thirds of those affected receive some form of therapy.
Two non-profits in Columbia County, one of which nurtured the other in its infancy, provide unusual services: the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the largest grassroots mental health organization in the country with more than 650 affiliates, has had a chapter in Columbia County since the early 1990s. About five years ago, NAMI Columbia County helped to start the Mental Health Awareness and Creative Arts Gallery, now known as ARTLife717.
NAMI’s mission is to help those with mental health issues and their caregivers. It is volunteer-led by people who have lived experience with mental health illness. Nicole Corey is NAMI Columbia County’s Board President and Heather Lloyd is a longtime board member. Ms. Corey’s youngest son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 19 and spent years ping-ponging between homelessness and hospitalization until he finally found a stabilizing medication. He is now 54 and recently passed the state insurance brokerage examination – an indicator of how far his recovery has come.
Deborah E. Lans
Ms. Corey explains that when her son was first diagnosed, “I didn’t even know what schizophrenia meant, and I didn’t know where to turn.” Because of HIPPA privacy regulations, she also had trouble even getting information about her son’s condition and treatment. It is often in that time of crisis, when family members do not know where to turn, that they find NAMI.
NAMI’s Family Support Group meets twice monthly, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 6-7:30 p.m., and they are free. The meetings are held at the Kinderhook Memorial Library but may also be accessed remotely for those who cannot be present. Lead by those who have experienced life with a family member who has a serious mental health illness, the sessions help caregivers to find coping skills, to understand the nature of mental health diseases and treatments and to weather the journeys (lengthy and often tortuous) people take toward recovery. Equally important, as Ms. Corey explained, a parent can share with others the process of “grieving the loss of the child you knew, the loss of expectations for him or her.”
Ms. Lloyd expands: “There is no two week ‘recovery’ from a mental health issue. You follow a path, and family members need to come to terms with the fact there is no quick and easy solution.” Also, “the journey is not linear. Your child can drop off the map and a parent can be embarrassed and worried to death.” Having the support of those who have traveled a similar path is huge.
NAMI also runs a free Family-to-Family program, an eight-week, evidence-based course designed to help family members acquire caregiving, coping and communications skills, knowledge of psychiatric conditions and treatments, resources, and problem-solving techniques. Liz Hildebrandt, a consultant to NAMI who joined the interview with The Columbia Paper, said that when her child was first diagnosed, the Family-to-Family program literally enabled her to survive.
Like so many organizations, NAMI’s local volunteer corps was heavily impacted during Covid, and the organization is hoping to rebuild its numbers with a range of helpers – grant-writers, fundraisers, program facilitators, and those with administrative and outreach skills.
One of NAMI’s successful initiatives was its partnership with Brian Belt in the creation of what is now known as ARTLife717, a gallery located at 717 Columbia Street in Hudson. ARTLife717 is the “public-facing name of the Mental Health Awareness and Creative Arts Gallery,” a non-profit that offers an “inclusive space where everyone, anywhere on the mental health spectrum, can exhibit their work” and that also hosts classes.
Mr. Belt, himself a schizophrenic in recovery and an artist who creates digitally-stylized videos, was inspired to create a gallery to display the work of artists in recovery some years ago when he saw a piece of artwork displayed on Warren Street – a dress beaded with an array of psychiatric pills, one artist’s statement about the recovery process.
The gallery, now four years old, shows the work of some 60 artists in recovery, including many from outside the area. Exhibits are generally themed, and works are displayed with artists’ statements that speak to the interaction of the process of creating art and the artist’s mental health.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA), among many other expert groups, recognizes the value of working with and in the arts for those with mental health challenges. Various studies document reductions in anxiety, enhanced communications skills, and the lessening of isolation, among other effects. As Anja Eide, a participant in a class at ARTLife717 when The Columbia Paper was visiting, put it, creating art gives “purpose and joy” to the artist. Where many programs focus on problems and hard issues, creating art is rewarding and offers a healthy and welcome distraction.
Mr. Belt, now 59 and himself a certified peer recovery specialist, largely credits the PROS program, a state-sanctioned program offered locally by the Mental Health Association of Columbia Greene (MHACG), with his recovery. PROS creates personalized programs for those in recovery focused not only on medication and treatment but also on enhancing social and coping skills, employment support and other practical life needs. Mr. Belt also acknowledges his mother, who not only supported him through the years but also made a crucial donation that helped the gallery at its inception. Now, the gallery also receives support from the county, grants and donations.
This year, Jesse Sanchez was hired to manage the gallery. A graphic artist who worked in New York City, Mr. Sanchez moved to Greene County to support his parents. He knew no one in the area. He connected with the PROS program and now teaches several classes there. He met Mr. Belt two years ago and was excited by the gallery concept. He sees the process of creating art as a way of self-exploration and communication and, thus, as an aid to recovery. To him, the product is less important than the process.
Mr. Sanchez has designed the gallery’s logo and its appealing, calm and clean look, and he has conceived the line-up of exhibitions, the next of which is a “Freeform Doodle Show,” which will run from March 8 to May 3. The show will feature “art that has no specific plan or intention. Work that evolved naturally and allowed the artist to reconnect with the joy of making art without expectation.”
G. Brian Karas is “from a family of artists.” He is a prolific children’s book illustrator. His son, who “has a serious diagnosis,” creates works with chains, aligning with his fascination with medieval weaponry and armor. Mr. Karas volunteers with the gallery as his way of “giving back” to NAMI which gave him support when he and his family moved to the area six years ago. To him, those in recovery come to see things differently when they work in the arts, as do the gallery-goers.
More information about NAMI can be found on its website, namiccny.org. More about ARTLife717 and its exhibits can be found at stigmafree.art. Gallery hours are Wednesday noon-5 p.m., Friday 1 p.m.-6 p.m., Saturday noon–6 p.m.
To contact reporter Deborah Lans, email deborahlans@icloud.com
