Creating more everyday moments

For our loved ones navigating complex health conditions, the everyday moments are even more precious.

This Giving Day, help more Australians like Frank and Wayne.

Because of YOU Frank feels his true meaning and purpose to life 

When Frank entered palliative care bedridden and given just 10 days to live, he never thought he would find his true meaning and purpose to life. With the power of art therapy, Frank remarkably defied the odds, even getting well enough to leave hospital.

Although he was reluctant at first, Frank gave art therapy a go and when he started to see that he could still achieve things – he began to believe in himself.  

Despite his shaking hands, Frank began painting with a paint roller. As he was still bedbound with very limited strength or movement, Frank painted lying on his side.

“When I paint my thoughts stop going around and around in circles – if I discovered this 30 years ago my life would have been different.” 

As he progressed Frank began to build confidence in himself, not only with his art, but with his health-related goals.

Frank was discharged from hospital after six long months and became physically and mentally strong enough to begin chemotherapy for his cancer again – something that was not an option when he was admitted. 

This Giving Day, your donation will go further in bringing art therapy programs to even more people in difficult times, gifting more precious everyday moments.

Wayne is fostering deeper connections thanks to YOU 

Art as a form of expression can hold many different meanings and interpretations. For Wayne Whitfield – a Ngarrindjeri man, Vietnam veteran and member of the Stolen Generations – that meaning is connection. 

“I served in Vietnam in 1971, and the effects of those experiences still play a major part in my life today,” he says. 

About seven years ago, Wayne was introduced to The Hospital Research Foundation Group – Creative Health’s visual arts tutor Kaz Pedersen while an inpatient at the Jamie Larcombe Centre (JLC). He’s been coming every week since.  

 “Most of the vets I know, we’ve all been through the same experiences, and we all suffer in our own way, but with the painting we communicate with each other, trying to express where we are going in life,” he says.

Wayne’s art is his own self-taught style of Aboriginal dot painting which features the use of bright and vivid colours, inspired by the vibrancy of the land and sky after spending a night atop Uluru. “The art program has helped me mentally and physically, it’s helped my confidence and brought me closer to other veterans,” he said.  

Your donation this Giving Day will create more everyday moments, and make DOUBLE the impact in supporting even more veterans like Wayne to foster deeper connections through art. 

This Giving Day you can help create more everyday moments, with your donation DOUBLED.