Giving Back To The Community: Family Services Ottawa

Deirdre Speers (right), Executive Director of FSO and I (left) at the 2019 ‘Artistic Resilience’ fundraiser. | Photo : Chris Snow Video

It is a great privilege for me to be able to pursue my life-long passion for studying art. In doing so, it is important for me to honor my mother’s legacy both as an exceptional artist and as a woman who persevered in her pursuit of this passion despite struggling with schizoaffective disorder her entire life. She created art and exhibited from the 1950s to 2013. Only in the last few weeks of her life in 2015 did she declare “I am retired from art”! Her full story was made public when I held a series of fundraisers for Family Services Ottawa (FSO) at Le Petit Mort Gallery, the Shenkman Art Centre and the Orange Art Gallery (i.e. Artistic Resilience); the genesis of which I speak to in these media clips from CBC and in the Herd Magazine. 

The important learning from my mother’s story is that having a mental illness should not define us, nor prevent us from getting the help we need when we need it. It has left in me a desire to ensure that everyone in our community has access to the necessary services and resources such as provided by Family Services Ottawa (FSO). This organization provides counselling to anyone who needs it in the Ottawa community. Welcoming individuals and families in all their forms, they provide a range of counselling, educational and supportive programs. As a former board member, I have been a long-term advocate for FSO and their art-as-therapy and Art Studio programs. The latter provides a unique service to artists who live with mental health challenges. 

If you are from the Ottawa community, I would encourage you to learn about FSO, spread the word about its important work which, in these unprecedented times, is more important than ever. And please know that if you do me the honour of purchasing one of my artworks, that twenty-five percent of the sales will go directly to this charity.