What do you expect to see when you walk into a hospital clinic? Will the walls be stark and white or full of colour? Will the waiting room be bright and welcoming? At St. Joe’s Community Psychiatry Clinic, patients are often surprised when they are welcomed with a colourful pollinator garden mural, symbolizing metamorphosis and community. 

The artwork flows from a popular motto across St. Joe's mental health programs: Grow through what you go through. Led by Art Therapist Laura Bromwich from the Mood Disorders Program and Community Psychiatry Clinic Recreation Therapist Kamila Gemin, the goal of the clinic’s sunny facelift was to involve patients in art creation, create a more welcoming environment for recovery and build community. 

They enlisted the support and talent from community artist April Mansilla and through artistic collaborations with patients from their Art Therapy Group, who created several of the butterflies and insects featured in the garden mural. 

“The pollinator theme came from reflections on how different plants and insects are all unique in nature but play equally important roles in making a garden grow,” says Laura. “That idea mirrors how in the clinic, everyone comes together with their own unique perspectives and experiences to forge this incredible sense of community.” 

Collaboration was key to the end product, with current and former clinic users, healthcare workers, community members and local artists, including April Mansilla, sharing their talents and personal journeys.  

“It brought us together,” says Catherine McCarron, Manager of the Community Psychiatry Clinic. “There’s a special feeling that happens when people identify their own work on the mural. It’s a sense of contribution. We’re looking for other opportunities to expand on this work.” 

 Indigenous representation key to collaboration 

Bianca Babics, Indigenous artist, stands in front of her artwork on a pedestrian bridge in Brantford. 

Bianca Babics is no stranger to large-scale public art projects. The 20-year-old with Cayuga heritage has been featured on a pedestrian bridge and in a Brantford-based mental health clinic, so when she was approached by the team to contribute to the clinic mural, she was thrilled.  

After being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder at 16, she is also no stranger to the mental health system, navigating through different programs as a teen, such as St. Joe’s Youth Wellness Centre, Community Psychiatry Clinic and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy program.  

“Mental health plays a big role in who I am as an artist,” says Bianca. “I started taking art more seriously and professionally with my diagnosis. It is something that’s very freeing and gives me something to take pride in and strive toward getting better at in the future. I love being able to take something from my mind and create something tangible that I can show people. It’s meaningful to be able to create art in a space that helped me so much.” 

The therapeutic facilitators wanted to ensure local plants were captured in the mural and that an Indigenous artist was able to use their artistic skills and experience to express this. Laura reached out to St. Joe’s Youth Wellness Centre and was introduced to Bianca, who expressed interest in collaborating and was invited to participate in the mural project. Bianca suggested including trilliums, Ontario’s official flower. She also worked with the team to incorporate sweet grass, a sacred plant to many Indigenous, Inuit and Métis Peoples, as well as a native plant species in Ontario. 

“Indigenous Peoples founded our country and the lands that we stand on. Even if this isn’t an Indigenous mural, Indigenous inclusivity is just so important,” she says. “It’s a promise toward reconciliation.” 

“Indigenous voices must be heard, acknowledged and present in everything we do, especially throughout healthcare – whether it’s a simple mural or larger decisions within the system.” 

A 3-dimensional acrylic piece by Bianca, inspired by the traditional Woodland Art style of Anishinaabe artist, Norval Morrisseau. This was Bianca’s first Indigenous painting and first piece of art she sold. It was also the inspiration for a large public art piece on a pedestrian bridge in Brantford she created years later. 

Bianca’s Indigenous heritage is important to her, especially growing up with her mother who always reminded her to remember her Indigenous roots and bring them with her throughout her life, including her artwork. 

“Every art piece tells a story,” she says. “To me, this one represents Indigenous and non-Indigenous people walking alongside each other; being able to live in harmony and grow together, not apart. It’s not two separate gardens – everything is intertwined. We’re living together in this world that the Creator made.”