{"id":37104,"date":"2025-10-30T13:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37104"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:58:16","slug":"touch-of-art-highlight-benefits-of-creativity-through-addiction-services-central-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/touch-of-art-highlight-benefits-of-creativity-through-addiction-services-central-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Touch of Art highlight benefits of creativity through Addiction Services Central Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having a creative outlet can be a powerful factor in maintaining body, mind, and soul \u2013 and the importance of art to mental health and addictions was underscored last week through A Touch of Art, an event hosted by the Aurora-based Addiction Services of Central Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addiction Services of Central Ontario (ASCO), which provides more than 10 community-based programs in York Region, South Simcoe, and North York, hosted the event at Richmond Hill\u2019s Boynton House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brainchild of ASCO staff member Audry Barton, who is also an area artist, the event was envisioned as \u201ca new way to build community and make a tangible difference for individuals, their loved ones, and communities affected by addictions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, which was based around the theme of \u201cTrees and Seas\u201d as a symbol of resilience and renewal, featured works by Barton and five other local artists, hands-on workshops and more, with all proceeds going to support ASCO clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor many years, I have been thinking about what could be done to support ASCO, knowing that the programs and services have been critically important for individuals, their loved ones, and the community more broadly,\u201d said Barton. \u201cArt is very important to me, personally, and it creates connections and has a healing power. We have seen the benefits of art with ASCO clients. I\u2019m thrilled that local artists have agreed to come together to support ASCO by donating works of art.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The healing power of art was underscored by Penny Marrett, ASCO\u2019s Executive Director, who said one key piece of feedback they received from clients on the impact of art dovetailed perfectly with the show\u2019s \u201cTrees and Seas\u201d theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This client, who painted a picture of a wave, shared: \u201cLife to me is like water; it sustains your life, but it can also take your life \u2013 and just like water, life can be calm and soothing, or turbulent or stormy. Lately my life has been very stormy, but one thing I know about waves is you have to move with them and ride the wave. If you try to fight it, it will take you under and pummel you. You have to catch it at the beginning and move with it, and there\u2019s always that terrifying moment when you\u2019re not quite sure that you\u2019ll make it, but then you go over the crest, and with the wave of your back, you go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInterestingly enough, a few years ago, we actually started to offer a sort of art workshop and Audry led them,\u201d said Marrett. \u201cYou can imagine that many individuals feel, \u2018Well, I\u2019m not an artist, I can\u2019t paint, I can\u2019t do this,\u2019 and miracle of all miracles, everybody can do it in some way, shape or form. Now we have clients who always ask us, \u2018When\u2019s the next art workshop?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are all sorts of different ways in which they do art and it is one of the ways in which individuals affected by addictions can actually relax, have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, and leave having produced something that\u2019s theirs and theirs only \u2013 and that they\u2019re proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis art exhibition an extension of how art can actually be one of the healing powers for the individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the community leaders lending their support to the show, which also featured food created by those taking part in culinary programs led by 360 Kids, was Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MPP Michael Parsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Touch of Art exhibit serves as reminder that healing is not just found in clinics or counselling rooms \u2013 it is also found in creative community engagement,\u201d he said. \u201cBy converting art into action through the commitment to donate all artwork sale proceeds to ASCO programs, Addiction Services Central Ontario has turned artistry into meaningful support for mental health and addictions care in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Addiction Services Central Ontario, visit helpwithaddictions.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having a creative outlet can be a powerful factor in maintaining body, mind, and soul \u2013 and the importance of art to mental health and addictions was underscored last week through A Touch of Art, an event hosted by the Aurora-based Addiction Services of Central Ontario. Addiction Services of Central Ontario (ASCO), which provides more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-10-30-08.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Es","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 21:39:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37106,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37104\/revisions\/37106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}