Rachel LyonsThe same pictures of butterflies had been on the Education Clinic’s walls for years. The waiting room had a “clinical” feel, and it was time for a change.
A new mural depicting a broad, budding tree standing before a colourful mosaic now branches through the Education Clinic. It stands to represent two very important processes within the clinic: hope and healing. Wide branches represent the different paths one can take in life, while the leaves represent regrowth. The tree is not completely dead, but rather in the process of rebirth.
The result of the Department of Educational Psychology’s collaboration with nine youth artists from the iHuman Youth Society, a non-profit organization that works with Edmonton youth in difficult situations. The organization’s focus is on the arts and providing youth opportunities for artistic expression while also giving them access to counselling support.
Located in the U of A’s Education building, the Education Clinic offers more affordable counselling and clinical services to Edmontonians while also serving as a training ground for students. The clinic has worked with iHuman before — clinical psychology students have completed their practicums working with the organization. The mission of helping youth heal is shared by iHuman and the Education Clinic: it made sense to collaborate on the project, iHuman mural director Emmanuel Osahor said.
“I thought (the mural) was a really cool idea,” Osahor said. “That’s something we also work on with our youth. We try to use creative means to help youth heal through various things they’re struggling with. I’ve found it to be a beautiful thing.”
The mural’s creative process involved the ideas of the Education Clinic and the artists of iHuman, who created several concept images to represent hope and healing. These pictures were then sent out to those working in the clinic for a vote, where the tree design emerged victorious. The work took about two weeks for iHuman’s youth artists to complete.
The Education Clinic’s resident clinical supervisor Troy Janzen pitched the mural to the Department of Education Psychology as a work that would “liven up” the space for those entering the clinic. The department loved the idea. He called the project an “exercise in meaning-making.”
“I think (producing art) helps you to get in touch with your own hope, and your own healing,” Janzen said.
Janzen also said he hoped that a mural would help the youth artists on it overcome their own problems. Having youth involved in community projects also helps with how they’re perceived — some face judgement as “street kids.” When they express themselves through art they are seen more as young, creative people, Osahor said.
During its development, the mural took a life of its own. Originally, the tree wasn’t going to have leaves. The improvised changes were welcomed, as Osahor had been looking forward to seeing the youth “spin it around and make it their own.”
Involving high-risk youth in permanent art projects such as the mural helps them experience art outside the studio and in the community, which can help encourage them as artists, Osahor said. These kinds of projects also help youth find a sense of ownership and belonging within the city.
“Little steps like that go a long way for every youth we work with,” Osahor said. “They feel like, ‘Oh, I actually belong here, I’m actually valued.’”
Osahor recently graduated from the U of A’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program and was hired by iHuman soon after. Art helped him find who he wanted to be. He wanted to help others in their own artistic self-discovery process, which he could do with iHuman.
“When we make projects that we feel are beautiful, I think that just makes us feel human,” Osahor said. “In the healing, art is something that provides the opportunity to create something … When you create an object most times it is valued by someone.
“And that, as a human being, is something that we all need. We all need positive reinforcement.”
