What does art have to do with staying healthy, mentally?

Loving Your Life by Elke Scholz MA has everything to do with using art as a drug-free therapy to help youth and adults live life to the fullest as they navigate through life’s trials and tribulations, and maintain a clear and healthy mind, body and spirit.

A thin veneer stands between the half a million Canadians who missed work today and their struggle with mental health issues. When it cracks, researchers tell us one in four of us will experience a serious mental health issue in our lifetime. Suicide results in the deaths of 762 young people every year.

Elke has been helping people since 1980–inner city kids, teens and adults—people of all ages living through their darkest moments; for others, her therapy is a way to deal with stressful situations before feelings of hopelessness set in. Calm replaces turmoil, and fears and anxieties are replaced with a focus on creating images that can help individuals understand who they are and their surroundings, unblock their feelings and learn new ways to embrace change and live life to its fullest.

Most of Elke’s research is in attachment, trauma and loss using expressive arts. Her focus is on building the strengths of young people; she facilitates a youth grief and loss recovery program to help teens and their families cope with grief and trauma. In this program, she also mentors teen- and hospice- trained volunteers. Elke also assists youth-at-risk with creative living and learning to help them become engaged with attending class and gaining life skills.

Elke Scholz has her Masters in Expressive Art Therapy. She holds a postgraduate certificate in Expressive Arts with Fleming College and a diploma as an Expressive Arts Therapist from the private college ISIS Canada. Elke works with educators, social workers, doctors, corporations, organizations and groups. She has spent thirty years painting, art coaching and managing her successful art studio in Canada.