Adler University awards our Mental Health Clinician Keith with its Community Partnership Award!

This was the first time Adler University has given a Community Partnership Award and it was in recognition of the work Keith Thurlow-Bishop has done with their Master of Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy students who have been on practicum with him since the autumn of 2016. The award was presented by Dr. Bradley O’Hara, Executive Dean of Adler University Vancouver, and Sabrina Yau, an art therapy student who is about to graduate from the program and whom Keith supervised since the beginning of her first year. Keith has a PhD in Expressive Arts Therapy and runs our Art Therapy Groups you can learn more about how Art Therapy helps heal here.

Keith shared some powerful thoughts in his acceptance speech: “We work with youth who have had the worst possible start in life. As we walk down the street, these are the youth that we easily look away from. They become invisible to us, and, in the process, lose sight of themselves. Through the Art Therapy Program at Covenant House Vancouver, youth can start to explore who they actually are (rather than who they have been told they are) and can begin to hope and believe that their lives can be different than they expected. Through drawing, painting, collaging, sculpting, mask making, photography, or writing, youth can start to feel that they are important, and that their lives can be rich, textured, and meaningful. They can begin to recover from whatever loss, abuse, neglect, trauma, addiction, or mental health issues they have experienced, and see themselves and their futures with hope and pride. Making art with an art therapist is a powerful way for a homeless youth to say, “I am here, and I matter”.”

A huge congratulation to Keith on this award and for his powerful work with our young people and the students of Adler University.