…A Sneak Peek at Mental Health Recovery Collages
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is not something that I have personal experience with, but I know that it is a therapy used to help people with mental illness. The Canadian Association of Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH, 2025) says that DBT contains two guiding principles: acceptance (a client’s feelings are valid responses to challenging life circumstances), and change (that a client’s goal is to work on changing behaviours that are negatively impacting their lives).
DBT uses 4 tools (CAMH, 2025):
- Mindfulness: being in the present and observing thoughts
- Distress tolerance: the ability to accept and regulate when a big stress occurs
- Interpersonal effectiveness: the ability to create appropriate boundaries and ask for needs while maintaining a reciprocal relationship
- Emotion regulation: the ability to regulate distressing emotions
Although DBT was created from CBT, there is a fundamental difference: DBT therapists validate that problematic thoughts and feelings are natural responses to difficult life circumstances rather than just seeing these thoughts and feelings as cognitive distortions (Harvard Health, 2025). DBT has been very effective for working with those people with lived experience of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and who self-harm. There is more research supporting evidence that DBT is helpful for other mental illnesses.
For those not familiar with the term Boderline Personality Disorder (BPD), it is a mental illness characterized by the following cluster of patterns (Washington, 2021):
- an unstable sense of self
- intense emotions
- impulsive actions
- relationship difficulties
- black and white thinking
The article goes on to say that often people with BPD grow up in households that are unsupportive of them which intensifies their feeling responses which can lead to self-harm (BPD, 2025).
Unfortunately, BPD is a stigmatized mental illness because of how often people with BPD seek services (often times from threats or actions of self-harm) and because of stereotypes associated the diagnosis. These stereotypes include things like people with BPD are manipulative and attention-seeking.
My Experience Working with People with lived experience of BPD
For me, BPD has felt like a socially constructed illness because it is often a diagnosis attributed to women who have experienced trauma. However, I have read of people who have experienced healing through getting the diagnosis of BPD and finally understanding their distressing symptoms. Fortunately, DBT is a helpful therapy when a person is experiencing such high emotional distress and potential for self-harm.
What is the research on DBT and treatment of mental illness?
Here is what Harvard Health says about how DBT is used with mental illness: “DBT has a proven track record for addressing the most debilitating symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD), self-injury and suicide threats or attempts. It is now also used to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders. In fact, the cornerstone of DBT — the skills training — can help anyone navigate emotionally charged situations with more ease” (2024).
A research study called, “Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adults with Mental Illness: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness and Guidelines,” states that there is evidence that DBT can be help people with lived experience of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and also be helpful for high-risk suicidal veterans” (Peprah, 2017). DBT strategies are obviously helpful with managing mental health symptoms.
In my research on DBT, I came across an introductory DBT course in a Recovery collage in the UK. Recovery colleges originated in the UK and now CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association) offers courses through Recovery Colleges across Canada. The courses are free and have offerings for someone with mental illness. Although Victoria doesn’t have a recovery collage, many courses are offered online.
What also sets them apart from traditional educational institutions are the subjects offered. Instead of traditional academic subjects the subjects are about wellness and recovery. They cover things from safely reducing medication to offering tools for anxiety. The courses are developed by mental health professionals and those with lived experience of mental illness.
I think recovery collages are great resource for people with lived experience and something that supporters of those with lived experience could encourage their loved one with mental illness to try.
Can DBT be combined with art therapy?
In the article, “DBT Art Therapy Activities: Creative Approaches to Emotional Regulation and Mindfulness,” the NeuroLaunch Editorial Team writes the following of DBT and art therapy (2024):
“Imagine a world where your paintbrush becomes a tool for emotional understanding, where sculpting clay helps you stay grounded in the present moment, and where creating a collage can unlock insights into your interpersonal relationships. This is the transformative power of integrating DBT therapy techniques with art therapy.”
Here are four benefits for included art therapy to DBT (NeuroLaunch Editorial Team, 2024):
1. Enhanced self-expression: Art provides a non-verbal outlet for emotions that may be challenging to articulate.
2. Increased engagement: The hands-on nature of art activities can make therapy more engaging and enjoyable.
3. Tangible representations of progress: Artwork created during therapy sessions serves as a visual record of growth and change.
4. Deeper insights: The creative process can unlock subconscious thoughts and feelings, leading to profound self-discovery.
Okay, are you ready to dive into making some art?🎨
Therapeutic Arts Activity
Pick something that is causing you tension or distress. Paint a drawing about how this distress feels. Try to cultivate some self-compassion as you do this. Then paint how you’d like the situation or feelings to change.
Instructions
Pick a situation, maybe an interpersonal dynamic or a life decision issue, and paint about the resulting conflict or distress. Then paint how you’d like the situation to change.
Materials Needed
- Watercolour paper
- Watercolours or watercolour pens
- Container for water
- Brushes
Once you’ve completed this activity, here are some questions as guidelines for your personal explorations:
1. What situation did you chose for the activity and why?
2. What feelings emerged from your current dilemma? What colours did you use and why?
3. How do you want to situation to change?
4. What is one positive action you can do to change the situation?
I chose my burnout as my inner conflict. I am still recovering from a deep burnout. The first picture, entitled “When It Rains It Pours,” shows how it feels for me having so little energy. I am the grey figure at the bottom of the page. The rain cloud that is enormous represents expectations on me, the problems of the world, and individual life pressures. I have little protection from this stress as my resiliencies have been tapped. There is a small sun of energy and light bringing positive experiences and healing energy, which is comprised of self-care for my body, good sleep and rest, and positive, and fun social interactions.
The second picture is how I want to resolve my burnout. I am sitting up and taking up more space in the image. I have a red compassionate heart towards myself. I still feel very tired as depicted with the grey, but I have a blue cloak of self-care, and relaxation which I wear around me, giving me some energetic protection from things that deplete me. There is more sunlight, and I am receiving rejuvenation from this self-care and more energy. This picture is entitled, “Soaking It In.”
I found this exercise enormously beneficial because it helped ease the tension I have been carrying of meeting other people’s needs and looking after myself. It also reminds me to commit to things that fortify my “blue cloak” of self-care. When you are recovering from burnout, you need to rest and to carefully think abou where you expend energy. Having a mental illness requires even more of this awareness and development of how to protect wellness.
❤️❤️❤️ With care and kindness, Meegan
In the spirit of creating a community of reflection and art making, your comments are welcome. If you choose to leave a comment, it is important to know I respect your privacy. Your information will not be given, lent, rented, or sold to anyone. However, when making a comment on the site, your IP address and browser user will be collected. Please see full Privacy details on my Privacy Policy Page Privacy Policy. If you are having a mental health emergency, please take care of yourself, and call 911 or take yourself to emergency at your closest hospital.
Sources:
CAMH. (2025). Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/dialectical-behaviour-therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: What is it and Who can it help? https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dialectical-behavior-therapy-what-is-it-and-who-can-it-help-202401223009
NeuroLaunch Editorial Team (2024). DBT Art Therapy Activities: Creative Approaches to Emotional Regulation and Mindfulness.
Peprah K, Argáez C. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adults with Mental Illness: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness and Guidelines [Internet]. Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2017 Oct 20. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525629/
Recovery Colleges l Canadian Mental Health Association https://cmha.ca/what-we-do/national-programs/recovery-colleges/#question-2
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