'Healing Tree' mural helping patients cope with mental health

PROVO — Oct. 10 is World Mental Health Day, a chance to promote mental health awareness and talk about ways to cope with different feelings. An art project at Utah Valley Hospital is providing a safe space for patients to express themselves.

Ashley Byrne, a behavioral health specialist at Utah Valley Hospital, spent hundreds of hours creating what she calls "The Healing Tree" — a mural that now hangs in the group therapy room on the inpatient psychiatry unit. The tree's "fruit" are discs painted by patients that depict their unique perceptions of mental illness.

"(This room) needed color. It needed something to look at. It needed some happiness or just, you know, something good, and so I just came up with the idea to paint this, and I wanted to include the patients," Byrne said.

Byrne has led painting groups at work, allowing patients, and other caregivers, a chance to express their emotions — without words.

"For myself, art has always been an outlet," Byrne said. "There are definitely patients that enjoyed it more than others and said, 'This has really helped me pull some feelings out that I've been blocking.'"

"Each different piece tells a different story," said Nate Smithson, a charge nurse on the psych unit. "The people that come here are often going through some pretty difficult times in their life. Some of them feel alone. Some of them feel like they don't have anybody who understands what's going on. If anything, I think that some of the pieces that have been included in this painting show just that there is somebody that might be going through something similar."

Byrne said she plans to expand the piece, painting branches on the walls and up on the ceiling, and allowing more patients to contribute to the "living tree."

If you would like to learn more about behavioral health services or need more resources for help, visit intermountainhealth.org/behavioralhealth.

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