Art is a process, rather than an end product. Since ancient times, dance, music and song have been used to celebrate, to communicate, to mourn and to heal. It is a way of safely releasing intense feelings and accepting those feelings as a part of who we are.

Harmony Place is the home of The Multicultural Centre for Mental Health and Well-Being Inc. Funded by Qld Health and located in Yeronga on the south side of Brisbane, the service works with individuals, families and carers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds who are dealing with mental health issues. Our clients include migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Some of the issues experienced by our clients include grief, anxiety and guilt about family left behind, torture and trauma reactions, depression, anger management issues and psychoses.

When working with CALD clients, Western-style counselling is often seen as a waste of time because practical, day-to-day issues of employment, finances, language barriers and accommodation have more importance than emotional issues. For some cultures, it is not appropriate for a person to discuss private family matters or to display feelings.

Expressive art such as dance and music is part of everyday experience in most cultures and being able to participate in these activities allows individuals the chance to move forward in their recovery journey. Dance movement, for instance, assists in getting in touch with and expressing pent-up feelings; in transforming harmful or destructive energy into useful, constructive energy.

Several projects conducted at Harmony Place, involving various forms of art, have played an important role in assisting clients on the road to better mental health. Projects included: a series of art therapy classes for very stressed young children who had been in detention centres, pottery (one participant went on to do further study at TAFE in this subject), creative dance therapy (one group for Spanish-speaking women and one group for Bosnian women), fruit carving, Latin American dance, fabric painting, card making and art classes (these were so popular that five participants decided to continue classes at their own expense when the project finished). Time frames for the projects ranged from one day to six months, with participant numbers between ten and twenty. The card making was doubly rewarding, as it involved consumers teaching consumers.

For some support groups, having the chance to join with others and sing songs from their homeland has been an emotional and uplifting experience, both for them and for the Harmony Place workers who were lucky enough to hear them. Feedback (written and verbal) from participants about the benefits from these projects and activities has been that stress, anger, isolation and anxiety have been reduced while motivation, coping abilities, relaxation, social networks and self-esteem increased.

Information about Harmony Place services and activities can be found on our website www.harmonyplace.org.au or by telephoning (07) 3848 1600. Jan McIntyre (Mental Health Worker)