My name is Danei Edelen and I am President of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Brown County affiliate. I am also a person living with a mental illness. As many of you know, I have been drawing daily as a coping skill for COVID-19 and as a part of my recovery for three … Continue reading Using Creativity to Express Empathy and Support
Category: Uncategorized
Catching the Sun
“To create is to make something that has never existed before. There’s nothing more vulnerable than that,” Brene’ Brown said. I felt it today. “What am I doing? What is an adult woman doing spending so much time coloring!!” I drew another sunflower today. Today’s challenge was the subtlety of the petals. In fact, I … Continue reading Catching the Sun
Why I Drew a Sunflower for a Stranger
“You are amazing,"one fellow artist wrote. “Hardly,” I thought. My husband and I had just been discussing my dissatisfaction with my most current artwork. “Maybe I should have started out in charcoal,” I said to my husband after I finished it. “You can do it again,” he said. He is right as usual. As I … Continue reading Why I Drew a Sunflower for a Stranger
ONMA Award!
I recently won 1st place in the Ohio News Media Association Hooper Weekly Newspaper Awards. I won for my three-part series, “What are the warning signs of mental illness?” According to the judges, “Danei Edelen’s three-part series on “What are the warning signs of mental illness?” provided a great community service. Her technique of telling … Continue reading ONMA Award!
How My Life Changed in 50 Days of Drawing
“That’s what you should blog about,” my first customer said. “How your life has changed in 50 days of drawing!” “She’s right,” I thought. To think, it all started with COVID-19. I was in a drawing class when COVID-19 hit. Our teacher gave us our virtual assignment, a drawing a day. For extra credit, we … Continue reading How My Life Changed in 50 Days of Drawing
Doing What I Can
“So gorgeous!” my friend Kim wrote. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had just posted her special-order sea turtle drawing on Facebook. “Would she like it?” I had been anxiously thinking. “You got it exactly right," she said. Now, onto the water lily! As I said in my previous post “My COVID-19 Coping Strategy … Continue reading Doing What I Can
My COVID-19 Coping Strategy – a Drawing a Day
"Wow! Thanks for the amazing sketch and wonderful idea! You’re an inspiration!", the Facebook poster said. “Thank you for saying that” I replied. “That’s what I was hoping for!” Up until that moment, I had thought my artwork was just helping me. Maybe I did have something to contribute to our current crisis after all. … Continue reading My COVID-19 Coping Strategy – a Drawing a Day
A conversation about Suicide Prevention
PsychU: The Missing Puzzle Piece Suicide Prevention: An Interview with Danei Edelen (February 5, 2019) https://soundcloud.com/user-704954445-363733771/the-missing-puzzle-piece-in-suicide-prevention-an-interview-with-danei-edelen
Mental Health Warrior 