‘To be hugged and loved’: Therapy dolls made to help with mental illness, trauma
Lalor Park artist Danielle RG and her team at Creative Groundz Studio are ready to launch their collection of colourful and quirky dolls for those overcoming trauma or mental illness.
- Flu cases surge across Blacktown as authorities prepare for horror season
- Westpoint Blacktown carpark to ‘substantially reopen’ within months
Lalor Park’s Danielle RG knows how to bounce back from a personal struggle and through her latest art initiative, she hopes to help others do the same.
The youth worker and artist with Creative Groundz Studio will launch a collection of therapy dolls next month, designed to help those tackling mental illness, trauma or social issues.
The collection features 18 unique dolls, each with a personal story and experience, such as depression or physical abuse.
Ms RG said the dolls were created as a tool for people in therapy and hoped to have them rolled out in clinics, schools and community groups.
“We decided to attach a mental health, health or social issue to each doll,” Ms RG said.
“The dolls were ultimately developed for clinicians and psychologists to assist opening up dialogue with youth in therapy.
“They’re to be hugged and loved and they’re not just a regular doll — they attach themselves to the child they have the same issue as.”
After working with young people to create the characters and the designs behind the dolls, the community at Creative Groundz Studio helped bring the dolls to life through hours of sewing, stitching and stuffing.
Inspired by characters created by children, Ms RG said the dolls were designed to be imperfect and quirky.
“They came about as how kids draw. So young kids will draw with one big eye, one little eye, a circle head, a rectangular or triangle body,” she said.
“There is nothing like this on the market.
“They’re colourful and crazy but we’re targeting all those issues that are swept under the carpet.”
As a community artist known for her murals, she said the program was created after experiencing her own challenges.
“I had a moment in 2016 when everything was not happening. I was stressed out and my body went numb, so I was thinking about what I could do instead of murals,” she said.
“In my brokenness I was trying to rediscover what I could do and reinvent myself with.
“I’m not able to do murals as well as I used to, so this is our new way to stabilise our community and our programs under Common Groundz.”
She said plans were afoot to develop a pilot program for use of the dolls in the indigenous community and with the Blacktown RSL Sub-Branch.
All proceeds from the sale of the dolls will go back into programs at the studio.
Plans for a second collection of 25 dolls is also in the works.
The collection will be launched at Blacktown Workers Club on June 21 at 7.30pm.
IN OTHER NEWS
Young Waratahs pair shine ahead of Super Rugby W opener
The Waratahs have worked hard on a skill all pre-season but it was an area that let them down in a Super Rugby trial where two young guns produced ‘positive energy’. Super Rugby W squads.
‘Raw’: Family reacts to preschool’s court win after baby’s death
The grief-stricken family whose daughter died after she was found unresponsive at a northwest Sydney childcare centre has spoken about their heartache following the preschool’s successful appeal in court.