Daily News
Cheryl Metivier
Shari La Shae defies the odds every day and turns her mental health struggles into success. A humble and deeply intuitive young woman whose wisdom belies her mere 29 years, La Shae is a self-taught abstract artist and photographer who has struggled with depression and bipolar disorder since her teens.
He comes from a small family, with only one older brother. And as he has a very close relationship with his family, he did not hesitate to alert his parents when he recognised that he was beginning to experience the first symptoms of an adverse mental illness.
“I was a good student, I enjoyed studying and I got good grades, so it was confusing when I started having trouble keeping up. So much so that I started missing school frequently,” she told WMN.
The feeling of constantly being overwhelmed consumed her and she said she even remembered having suicidal thoughts. After doing her own research online through “Dr. Google,” she was satisfied that her symptoms warranted further intervention and reached out to her parents. That conversation was perhaps the turning point for her and she is grateful that they were knowledgeable and willing enough to help her find the support she needed. Unfortunately, this was not the case for everyone in her circle.
“I had friends and family who would have preferred me to keep my diagnosis a secret. Others advised me to ‘pray about it,’ because they thought this ‘invisible’ illness wasn’t real.”
La Shae has been very deliberate in how she has approached her mental health since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She said that after coming out to her parents and seeking professional help, she was able to identify that practicing her art had had a calming effect on her. She noted that it is not a new hobby, as she has always had an affinity for it. In the early part of her practice, her preference was portraits and sketches; but after the diagnosis, she found herself drawn to the abstract genre; and basically sailed in a new direction, teaching herself all the fundamentals of this new style and embracing it fully.
“The more involved I became, the more benefits I saw I was getting from this activity.”
She has also ventured into art therapy, having been connected with a therapist whose speciality is art. Her sessions began just before the start of the covid19 pandemic in 2020. When the country was in lockdown, the weekly sessions continued online, which she describes as “really amazing”.
“These sessions took the form of conversations to address my concerns and issues, after which art would be used to translate and process those emotions; this would be followed by another conversation to discuss the pieces I had created – a kind of joint analysis.”
But she was quick to point out that the progress she made in improving her mental health was not solely due to her art, but also to therapy and medication. She credits her doctor for taking the time to properly assess her and, over time, identifying the right “cocktail” to keep her in balance. This, along with the arsenal of “tools” she has accumulated during her time in therapy, “have gone a long way in helping me control my thoughts and my actions.”
She said the invisibility of mental illness makes it easy to ignore.
“There’s no leg in a cast, no runny nose, no visible or tangible symptoms; but for those suffering from any number of mental illnesses, it’s as real as any of those afflictions.”
La Shae’s openness about her struggle has been a double-edged sword: it has earned her praise from some who have expressed pride and admiration for her bravery, while on the other hand, she has attracted strong criticism for shaming herself and those she loves.
“I’ve been warned to ‘just pick myself up and do what I need to do,’ but that’s harder than it sounds. And while I believe we all have the potential to change, dealing with some of our elders who have the ‘this is what we know and this is how it will stay’ mentality can be frustrating.
“They don’t understand it, they don’t understand it, they don’t think I should share it…”
She said the default stance for some of them is that “no one needs to know all their business.”
In the early moments of her diagnosis, La Shae was directly confronted with the conflict of having to balance her spiritual upbringing with the recognition that there has been significant growth in mental health awareness. This, she said, has contributed to a level of acceptance among her faith community. She believes that her generation has helped normalize conversations about mental health and has managed to break down some of the barriers around this taboo topic. She has noticed a marked difference in the reactions and advice offered to her ten years ago when she was first diagnosed; when she was asked if she was “sure she didn’t need to focus more on her relationship with God.” She now gets the sense that many of these people understand that what she is experiencing is not an indication of the quality or authenticity of her relationship with God.
“They recognize that this is a real thing.”
However, La Shae is grateful that as she has gotten older, the frequency and intensity of her episodes have reduced; and in those moments when she feels overwhelmed, she has found that “turning to art has really helped her re-center herself.” It has gotten to the point where her therapy sessions are scheduled only when necessary.
Along the way, La Shae also took up photography and developed such a passion for it that it became a side stream of income, alongside her painting. She said she has a natural inclination to seek knowledge and sees herself continuing to learn through formal training and her experiences. She recently completed her first solo art exhibition at the ARC Co-Create Hub in Tunapuna on June 29, which was interestingly titled Big Feelings.
She is also passionate about creating opportunities to help others and has collaborated with the North West Regional Health Authority and Pembroke Street Wellbeing Centre for the Mindful Expressions exhibition, and later presented the Oasis: Art as Therapy exhibition in partnership with the Ministry of Health. These activities have given her the opportunity to become one of the faces of people living with mental health issues. She relates that such networking had the effect of sparking conversations around the topic of addressing mental health issues.
She is grateful that in the midst of everything, she has the opportunity to live her dream of being an artist. She recognizes that not everyone has the privilege of living their dream like she does.
“A lot of people feel tortured going to work every day, I think (art) helps me. For example, on days when the going gets tough and I feel like I can’t do much, because this is something I love and I’m passionate about, it inspires me to keep going.”
Anyone interested in connecting with Shari La Shae can visit www.artby-shari.com
Instagram: @artbyshari_
