Paintings being made for the exhibition.
In a new initiative, the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH 2022) is using art as medium to put various healthcare issues in the spotlight, and to promote discussions on less spoken topics.
As part of it Naufar – the local rehabilitation centre for substance abuse and addiction hosts an exhibition ‘Reflections’ to showcase paintings made by patients in recovery. The exhibition which begins today has 50 paintings and aims to raise awareness and increase understanding about people with substance abuse and addiction and their journey towards recovery.
The exhibition will be held till October 6 at the Qatar Foundation’s health Clinic from 9am to 1pm.
“We have 10 paintings displayed inside WISH 2022 summit area (WISH HUB), and around 40 paintings inside the health centre in Qatar Foundation open to public. The art works represent different painting styles and techniques, approaching and topics. Some are made within individual art therapy sessions and others inside group art therapy sessions,” said Expressive Arts Psychotherapist, at Naufar, Raph Mohamed Haydar.
According to him, the paintings were made at different stages of the patients' recovery journey.
“Some of the paintings were done at the early stage of detoxification, others during rehabilitation and some at the day-care period. You can guess it from the intensity of colours, the impulsive lines and the cloudy shapes the period where the patients are having confused feelings and thoughts, struggling with the disease and fighting against it, and against themselves; this is the hardest fight that anyone could go through,” said Haydar.
“But the artworks done by patients at the late stage of recovery reflect their inner feelings and thoughts in a more confident way,” he added.
Explaining how art help in the recovery journey of people with addictions, Haydar said that addiction is a way to run from complicated life and painful memories, adding that practising arts could develop self-confidence and positive thinking.
“Psychotherapy treatment has to go back to these roots and make patient more balanced and more able to understand what happens/ happened so he could face these feelings, not running from it. In Expressive Art therapy department at Naufar, we are providing to patients painting therapy, drama therapy, writing therapy and music therapy. All these therapeutic forms aim to make the patients more able to express themselves, their feelings in a way different from talking or finding the words to describe what is inside,” he said.
“Sometimes we can’t find the words, or we are not familiar to talk about what we feel. Lines, colours, shapes, movements, voices, rhythm, melody, projection, and imagination could be the perfect way to express and communicate,” he added.
Haydar said that ‘Reflections’ exhibition is an invitation to see people with substance abuse and addiction from an angle different from the stigma; and an invitation to help and support them during their daily fight against their conditions.
“Substance use disorder is a serious health condition that can affect anyone, but it’s rarely discussed as a mental health condition. When we understand the root causes behind substance use disorder, we can encourage many individuals and their families to seek help early in their lives. Educating and enlightening the community about the challenge that many families are facing can’t be accomplished by one entity by itself, but it can be accomplished when everyone works together,” he said.
“We all have a duty to support the patients and their families through overcoming social obstacles by recognising it, we all have role in making the treatment and recovery a possible for those who need it,” he added.
Naufa centre will also deliver art therapy workshops and awareness sessions at Qatar National Library during the Doha Healthcare Week.
