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Winter 2009/10 | Vol 13 No 2

Innovation

Photovoice exposes the path to recovery

By Ned Morgan

Dawn Betts was reeling from a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, dysthymia and depression when she was invited to participate in a program called Photovoice, offered through the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) branch in the northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay. Betts knew little about photography. “But I was at a point in my recovery where, to get better, I was going to go down that avenue,” she says.

Developed at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Photovoice puts cameras into the hands of those who don’t normally have a voice in society. It has proved well-suited to the mental health community. A study of a U.S. Photovoice exhibit published in 2009 in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing found that the photos helped people with mental health problems articulate their experience of stigma and identity loss to clinicians. Another U.S. study published in 2008 in Perspectives in Psychiatric Care found that Photovoice increased empathy towards people with mental health problems among both the general public and clinicians.

Joanne Books, manager of education and training at the Thunder Bay CMHA, was drawn to Photovoice in part because of its immediacy. “Photography provides easy access to the creative process,” she says. “You don’t have to be a professional artist to take pictures that tell a story.” Books and case manager George Drazenovich recruited eight participants, and after discussions of photo ethics and exercises such as collage and reflective journaling, gave them disposable cameras.

As the artists immersed themselves in the project, they became a tight group, keen to help one another interpret the multiple levels of meaning in their photographs. In April 2007, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery launched an exhibit of 40 of the group’s photographs. The exhibit’s overwhelming success convinced the group to make a multimedia presentation and present it to hospitals, mental health agencies and other audiences. The project has been so successful, in fact, that the Mental Health Commission of Canada has selected it as an anti-stigma demonstration tool for its “Opening Minds” campaign.

Photovoice artist Annie Jollymore was a young achiever, completing a master’s degree in clinical psychology by age 21, before dissociative identity disorder and borderline personality disorder led to 20 years in the mental health system. One of Jollymore’s photos (shown here) depicts a stained glass window in her living room. Her accompanying text reads: “Emerging from psychic shadows into the light.” The window’s ornate design obscures the view outside, but coloured light flows into the dim interior. Jollymore explains: “In recovering from mental illness, some days are very bleak and you feel the darkness is taking you back. But I can focus on that stained glass window, the brightness, the vibrancy, and know that that world is out there.”

About two months into the project, Jollymore obtained a position as systemic advocate at People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment, a local consumer/survivor initiative, where she applies lessons from the project: “Photovoice talks about people’s strengths, their ability to recover – their inner resources and their community resources that allow them to live a good life.”
For Betts, Photovoice changed her ideas about mental illness. “I was taken aback by the intelligence of my peers,” she says. “Just listening to them talk about their photos and their recovery process – everybody was at a different point in their recovery. I was the one with the newest diagnosis. I wasn’t even at the acceptance stage.”

One of Betts’ photos shows a seagull in flight on an overcast day. The accompanying text reads: “A tiny insignificant speck surrounded by grey.” She explains: “That’s what life feels like when I’m in full depression … People said this photo really enlightened them as to what it feels like to be depressed.”

This enlightenment goes a long way in fighting stigma, says Books: “We presented to about 80 clergy, and one minister had tears in his eyes. He said, ‘I always thought of myself as a progressive thinker, but when I saw this, I realized I still have a lot of misconceptions about mental illness. This has challenged the way I think.’”

Photovoice has certainly challenged Books: “It has shown our agency that art is a powerful way to raise awareness of social issues and an important part of the recovery process,” she says. “I don’t think we knew how big this would get. Now we’re saying, ‘Wow! What else can we do?’”

Visit the photo gallery for more photographs from the Photovoice project.