Artist and designer ‘Flox’ gave Auckland central’s acute mental-health service a makeover on the 12th of March. She spent the day “behind lock and key” painting a huge mural on one of the walls in the outdoor courtyard in the secure ward at Te Whetu Tawera.
The photos Flox posted on her Facebook page have been generating such a positive response.
The courtyard has long been described by service-users as prison-like in atmosphere. Engage Aotearoa applauds the ADHB in this effort to create a friendlier physical space and Flox for making it happen.
Hopefully this will become just the beginning of more initiatives of this kind. It would be especially cool to see the people using the service encouraged to get involved in creating the space too, maybe under the direction of an artist with a brief like Flox. Next stop – that big rusty steel door.
Click here to view photos of the work in progress.
…I will practice expressing myself and getting support by telling someone I trust that I’ d like someone to talk to and asking them if they can listen. This is something we pretty much all need to do when the going gets tough, but which can be really hard to do if we are distressed and out of practice. This week, at the end of each day, I will call or visit someone and ask them if they can lend me an ear so I can get some of the day’ s stress off my chest. Then I’ ll tell them a bit about my day and anything stressful that has stuck with me. By checking in with them about their day as well, I’ ll be able to help them leave the conversation feeling listened to as well. This might bring us closer. Sometimes it can help to let people know what we are up to – I might even tell some of my friends that I am practicing asking for help and talking about my problems and that they might hear from me as I go. Once I am comfortable asking someone to listen, I will add it to my 
