When counseling a double mastectomy patient that has


questions about who they are now that they’re missing a part of their identity, Montgomery might offer a printed body map so that they can pinpoint where they carry feelings of loss, pain or confusion. “By drawing or coloring in those areas, I’m asking them to show how they’re being affected physically, emotionally and spiritually, and to externalize the overwhelming, negative side of their problem,” she explains. Using a second body map, Montgomery might invite the patient


to draw or paint in those same areas to transform the pain into something more positive. “Is it going to blossom like a flower or be soothed with water? What imagery can you create that represents the opposite of your pain or an improvement of your concerns? We might also do a portrait to highlight other aspects of you and your personality that still exist, even though you no longer have a body part that was killing you,” she says. Montgomery’s emphasis is never on the quality of the art. “I


walk the fine line between allowing patients to problem-solve how to make something look like what’s in their head and providing them with comfort and intervention so they don’t get so frustrated that they want to give up,” she notes. Montgomery keeps a visual journal for her own self-expression.


“It helps me make sense of the world,” she says. “Art gives my voice and thoughts an outlet, something concrete and representational that reaches into the depth of what I’m experiencing.”


Redemption Songs in Skid Row About 10 years ago, violinist and recording artist Vijay Gupta took a wrong turn and ended up in Skid Row, a disadvantaged downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. “It felt like a gut punch,” he recalls. “I saw the gross inequality between Walt Disney Concert Hall where I performed for the LA Philharmonic and a community of 5,000 people less than two miles away sleeping in tents in extreme poverty.” To upliſt and inspire people recovering from homelessness,


addiction and incarceration, Gupta founded Street Symphony in 2011 as a series of concert performances by world-class musicians. “One of our first venues was the Department of Mental Health,” he recalls. “Aſter the second movement, the young violist I was performing with turned to the audience with tears in his eyes and said, ‘I’ve loved playing for you because I can feel your hearts.’ He shared that his mother had grappled with schizophrenia, his father was a prison guard and whenever he played for his family, he felt more connected to them. Tat’s when I began to see him as a human being who was in deep need of this work himself.” Gupta has learned firsthand that healing is a two-way street. “When


I come to Skid Row, I’m the one who feels liſted,” he says. As a result, Street Symphony has morphed into a collection of workshops and conversations that also employs jazz, reggae, hip-hop and West African musicians and vocalists from the Skid Row community. “We might play 30 minutes of music and then ask the audience what images, thoughts or memories came up for them,” he explains. In this community, art is neither entertainment nor a commodity, Gupta says. “It’s a lifeline; a way for people that have been devastated by poverty, addiction or trauma to add to their lives in a constructive way. We all have devastated places within ourselves


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THANK YOU


To the healthcare professionals who are risking their lives during this epidemic, thank you for fighting COVID-19 on the front lines.


September 2021


17


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