That natural beauty is strong medicine. I experience nature as calming, if slowing down is what I need, or re-charge if I need to re-energize.  When we oxygenate in Beauty then you have a tonic that only a spa may be able to replicate. I think Beauty should be on the new Canada Food Guide. Hey, maybe it is! Cell phone photography - Lightlhouse Park, West Vancouver. 

Psychosocial Rehabilitation includes the exploration of creativity. Left photo is a section of a bed sheet I am covering with beads.

Mobile phone photography people create art that is edited on a cell phone  using cell phone apps.  Explore Mobile Phone Photography Awards  to see what people are submitting. Left photo was shot under a bridge in North Vancouver. Edited using cell phone apps on an old Windows phone. 

Art for the pleasure it brings. Left is a little trinket curtain I made. The ends of each strand of beads are trinkets that have been with me forever. Many of my trinket ends I have forgotten from where they were from. 

We can relearn how to eat for brain and body health. Left is a plate of oven dried apple chips along with fresh lemon curd for a dip.  Lemon curd recipe is from youtube instructions. Art by Autumn Skye Morrison. 

Can you name a dozen indigenous plants that grow around your neighbourhood?  Benefits of doing this memorization work includes knowing a little more about your world. Left is a St. Johns Wort tincture I made, and harvested around my local area. 

The research is in and we know the calming effects that animals have on humans as can be witnessed in seniors centres world wide. Left is a photo of the late Austin walking on a west coast trail at Lighthouse Park. Austin use to come to work with me and he knew how to sing and jump. 

A local seasonal favorite in my community is Loggers Sports Day. Local events are an option to stroll along with ease,  talk to as many artists as possible, and call it life on the wet west coast.

Fake news is not new. Give yourself chunks of time away from social media as a tolerance break from the provocations that clamor for your attention. Left is a fake news advertisement for the benefits of white sugar to control weight. Life, October 6th, 1961. 

Find a team to join that works for your needs. Remember the public library for low and no-cost activities. The left photo is my past Dragon Boat team (Perfect Catch) in North Vancouver, BC. I am the one with the white pointy hat. Here we are preparing for a race in English Bay, Vancouver. 

Whether your family is made up of two or a tribe, allowing support that gives us hope, courage, and the range of emotions including challenging us to see things from a different perspective, is a gift. Leaving behind negative people is not easy but you are worth the struggle. Left is the late Austin on a play date with his buddy Louis. 

People affected by mental illness gathered together to document what is needed in Canada. The result was Out of the Shadows at Last . This defining document is the compass from which my practice originates.