“You definitely got your Dad’s eye for detail and texture,” one relative said after I posted one of my pictures online. “This is really beautiful, Danei,” My mother said. “Don [my father] always loved roses.” In addition to being in the ministry, my father was a self-taught artist. His preferred medium was wood. He used a soldering iron to burn beautiful pictures like this one.
For my father, every day was pretty much the same. My father was the emotional foundation in our household: his steadfast personality made him the peacemaker in our home. As I wrestle with my mental illness, however, I feel like a captain on a sea of emotion when everyone else walks on dry ground.
My name is Danei Edelen. I am a wife, mother, artist in residence at Edelen Acres, founder of NAMI Brown County, 2020 Ohio News Media Hooper award-winning mental health columnist, and Executive Director for NAMI NKY. I am a peer who has been hospitalized five times due to my mental illness. I was taking a drawing class when COVID hit to help me recover in 2019. Since that time, Art has become my therapy now.
During my first art class after college, I had an epiphany of God as creator. Each time I start a drawing, I marvel at the beauty, symmetry, and diversity that coexist in nature. Despite my insecurities, “just doing it” brings me joy. Yet, after each drawing is finished, I see a myriad of mistakes. My drawings are “my interpretation” of the picture.
As Terri Cheney said in her book, “Modern Madness: An Owner’s Manual”:
“… And to my amazement, the best results I saw in the hospital were not achieved through medication or process groups but through art therapy. Patients who refused to speak up during the other groups somehow found their voices through their unleashed creativity and let others—including their doctors—know their secret suffering. It was a joy and a wonder to watch.”
Mental Health Warrior 