September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and at the Venue Fine Art & Gifts, this means the beginning of a special speaker series.
The first in this September wellness series is a talk by Dr. Karin Drummond, a Bloomington chiropractor with Drummond Chiropractic LLC. Her talk, “The Art of Positive Mental Health and Wellness,” will take place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the gallery.
The objective of the event will be to teach those who attend strategies for addressing and reducing depression and anxiety, said Dave Colman, curator of the Venue, in an email. Drummond will explain to attendees a strategy called the triad of wellness to help obtain optimum wellness for both body and mind.
“Dr. Karin Drummond is one of the most respected health care providers in our community,” Colman said. “She has developed a program for her patients to improve their mental health, and this will be my first exposure.”
The connection between creativity and mental imbalance is one that shows up in such historical examples as Sylvia Plath, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, and though this differs from his real-world experience, Colman said the messages and themes of the event are important for those both in and out of the art world.
“There is a stereotype that artists are sufferers — the Vincent van Gogh syndrome — all about to lop off an ear and be committed to an institution,” Colman said. “While the stereotype, in my experience, is false, artists and all of us can benefit from improved mental health.”
Colman said this event falls in line with the theme of wellness many of the Venue’s past speakers have discussed.
“While it is a general and recurring theme of our presentations to promote self improvement, it is a particular focus this month,” Colman said.
Certain aspects of life may seem to allow a person to feel fulfilled, but there is so much more to mental health than what is on the surface, Colman said.
“A person’s mental health colors their entire existence,” Colman said. “Wealth, prosperity and physical health do not guarantee happiness, and their absence does not necessarily create unhappiness. Positive mental health is the necessary filter for viewing the world as a good, safe place and having a good life.”
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s latest numbers, suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States and the third-leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 24. One in five adults will experience a mental illness in their lives, and nearly one in 25 live with a serious mental illness.
This event will allow all attendees to see seemingly simple ways to improve their mental health outlook.
“Mental health does not exist in a vacuum but is the result of lifestyle practices and choices that promote it as a result,” Colman said. “It is an art form in the sense that it results from adopting practices and repeating and refining them to create mental wellbeing, the same way artists create art.”
