DOHA: A creative painting session provided opportunities for patients with mental health problems, who are in a recovery phase, and their families as well as staff to paint images that represent positive mental health recently.
The event was held to mark this year’s World Mental Health Day (WMHD), Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Department of Psychiatry.
WMHD, observed every October 10, is the annual global celebration of mental health education, awareness and advocacy, where communities join together to shine a spotlight on a particular aspect of mental health or illness.
The purpose of HMC’s event, which contributes to supporting the aims outlined within the Qatar National Mental Health Strategy led by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), was to celebrate positive mental health through creative painting activities, which as a fun and social activity also served to strengthen the mental health community.
Patients, along with their friends and family, and staff from the Department of Psychiatry, enjoyed expressing their creative ideas around positive mental health during the afternoon event. The workshop was jointly coordinated by Dr Hazem Hashem, Acting Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Barbara Burnette, Director of Interior Design at HMC’s Health Facilities Planning and Design and Bonnie Vincent, Assistant Executive Director of the National Mental Health Program at SCH.
At the event, the Department of Psychiatry’s staff members were thanked for all of their hard work and for their commitment during an important period of change and development – which is still ongoing as the Department works towards the aims of the Strategy. Also, the Department took the opportunity of the event to showcase artwork and crafts produced by patients over the past years as part of their occupational therapy service.
Dr Hashem said as the main provider of specialist mental health care in Qatar, the Department provides comprehensive services for adults and children with mental illnesses and disorders across the spectrum of diagnoses and severity.
The Peninsula
