Mural Project to Bring Awareness to Mental Health, Addiction Recovery

The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is spreading the message of recovery through the visual impact of art.

The Recovery Mural Project is a community art project aimed at highlighting various recovery providers statewide, as well as celebrating the beauty of the recovery process itself.

The murals promote recovery, reduce stigma and bring awareness to mental health and substance abuse services within reach. The goal is for multiple murals to be located at various treatment providers throughout the state.

Each mural is painted by an Oklahoma artist who is on their own recovery journey.

Ashley Showalter is the first local artist to contribute. Her mural, “And Yet We Rise,” will be installed Thursday, Feb. 24, at HOPE Community Services, Inc., 6100 S. Walker Ave., in Oklahoma City.

“I wanted this mural to be a realistic depiction of having hope in recovery,” said Showalter.

“Throughout my healing journey, I have had many difficult seasons where emotions were not fun to feel that were followed by periods of joy. I think we can all relate to having different experiences of feeling in life.

“Recovery isn’t linear,” she added. “My goal is for this mural to serve as a reminder that hope is always there, even when we don’t think it’s possible in the present moment."

As the first ODMHSAS provider to partner on the Recovery Mural Project, HOPE Community Services believes in the power of recovery “because we see it in our consumers every day,” said Jeanette Moore, LCSW, chief executive officer.

“We are incredibly excited to be the first to participate in this project and are grateful to Ashley for giving our staff, our consumers and the public such a beautiful piece for inspiration.”

The murals are created and supported in partnership with the Arts Council, ODMHSAS and participating agencies. More information can be found at https://oklahoma.gov/odmhsas/recovery/recovery-murals.html.