'Garden of Recovery' supports women's mental health

Does art imitate life – or is it the other way around?

When it comes to healing women's mental health, the two concepts are inseparable at a specialist clinic in Melbourne.

The walls of the Women's Recovery Network (Wren) at Ramsay Clinic Albert Road have been adorned by a new mural display in partnership with lived experience participants and renowned artist Beci Orpin.

"Wren is a place where people come to feel seen, safe and supported, and this artwork is another expression of that care," Ramsay Clinic Albert Road CEO Petra Glare said.

"It brings colour, calm and moments of joy into the everyday. It is a visual reminder of hope and recovery created with the people who use this service. It is a beautiful addition to the building and a powerful reflection of the spirit of Wren."

Lived Experience Consultant Maria Bradshaw said the idea to bring artwork to the clinic was inspired by an existing appreciation and engagement with art at Wren.

The network is a partnership between Ramsay Health Care – Australia's largest private hospitals operator – Alfred Health, and Goulburn Valley Health.

"We have art therapy groups and one-on-one artist sessions, and participants often decorate their rooms and communal spaces with their own work," Ms Bradshaw said.

"So bringing them into the mural process was inevitable. It came from them."

Ms Orpin and Wren's Co-Design team – made up of people with lived and living experience of mental health treatment and care – devised a theme for the series of works.

"We started by looking at the colours already used in the building, the themes of women's safety and mental health, and how we could encourage those ideas in the space," Ms Orpin said.

"We wanted themes that encouraged safety and recovery, and that's how we landed on the 'Garden of Recovery'."

Read more: Transforming women's mental health care

Read more: The right space to treat mental health

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