Creative Recovery art project in Lockhart River

Creative Recovery is an Art in Health Initiative currently being piloted in Lockhart River, far north Queensland. Under the program, participants go to weekly visual arts workshops at the Lockhart River Arts Centre. They learn skills in the visual arts to express themselves and share thoughts, feelings and experiences with others.

Each week, the budding artists work on different themes and use a range of mediums for expression. Artist mentors, including Lockhart River 'old girls' Doris Platt and Suzy Pascoe, are on hand to help the participants. The project also employs Patrick Butcher and Emma Hodges from the arts centre to coordinate the project.

Some keen participants access the arts centre outside of the workshop time to continue to develop their own artwork for sale. Already the workshops have led to success with some group work produced ready for exhibition. There are also plans to exhibit the participant's work in high-profile art shows, including the Indigenous Art Fair in Cairns in August 2009, Brisbane Festival 2009 and Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

About the Creative Recovery Art in Health initiative

This innovative partnership approach to mental health recovery uses art as a tool to meaningfully engage people in workshops which may, in turn, lead to greater social inclusion and individual wellbeing.

Lockhart River Art Gang has an international reputation for supporting exceptionally talented Indigenous artists from the region to foster their career as artists on the world's stage. Works by artists such as Rosella Namok, Fiona Omeenyo, Adrian King and Silas Hobson from the original Art Gang are now highly sought after by collectors. It is because of this history within Lockhart River that Queensland Health and Disability Services Queensland agreed to partner with the Art Centre to extend their reach into the community and encourage people with severe mental health issues to access the centre.

The partnership also includes the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Arts Queensland, Access Arts Inc., Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Queensland and others who have an interest in community wellbeing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Other plans for the project include applying a comprehensive evaluation framework to the project to add to the body of evidence around Art in Health Initiatives, their impact on social inclusion and potential for improving community wellbeing. If the evaluation shows the program is effective, the project team hopes to extend the project to other remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Cape York.

For more information about Lockhart River’s Creative Recovery in Art project, contact the Creative Recovery Project Officer, Michelle Leenders:

• phone 07 4032 6736 or mobile 0419 817 248
• email michelle@crrmhq.com.au