i understand - WKTV Journal

Vonnie Woodrick is determined to change attitudes surrounding mental health (Courtesy, Davenport University)

By WKTV Staff

deborah@wktv.org

Woodrick has made mental health her life’s work (Supplied)

Davenport University leaders have announced that Yvonne (Vonnie) Woodrick has joined its Alumni Association Board for a three-year term. Woodrick, a West Michigan native, graduated from the university in 1984. She said it’s wonderful to be part of the university that means so much to her.

“It’s truly an honor to be in a position to highlight Davenport, a university that is near and dear to my heart,” said Woodrick. “Witnessing the growth from a college to a university has been amazing, and the expansion of Davenport’s mental and behavioral health services and academic programs is extremely important to me.”

Mental health is health

Mental health has been a focus for Woodrick since her husband, Rob, died from depression in 2003. The young widow with three children set out to change attitudes surrounding mental health and suicide. This cause has become her life’s work, and she founded the nonprofit organization i Understand in 2014.

Her work and Davenport’s recent additions of a campus wellness center and two master’s degrees connected to mental health make this renewed connection between Woodrick and the university even more meaningful. This fall, the university launched the Master of Science in Nursing, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner concentration, and the Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling.

“The actions taken in this area by Davenport leaders display their understanding that mental health is health,” Woodrick said. “At the university, the topic is discussed, resources are readily available and career choices in this field are cutting edge.

“I am grateful Davenport University is bringing the mental and brain health conversations to the forefront. I am excited to be a part of this, and can’t wait to see what the future holds in this area.”

Whole health for students

Woodrick joins 11 other Davenport alumni who serve the university and its mission through its Alumni Association Board.

“We’re delighted to have Vonnie join our strong alumni board,” said Rachel Render, Executive Vice President for Advancement at Davenport. “Vonnie’s expertise is important as we focus on the whole health of our students as they pursue their higher education dreams.”

For more information on i Understand, visit: https://www.iunderstandloveheals.org/

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

It wasn’t until artist Leyna Luttrull researched and then painted ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) that she fully understood what her daughter was going through.

“I didn’t think she really had it,” Luttrull said as she stood next to a series of paintings that depict mental health diagnosis — bipolar disorder, ADHD, substance abuse disorder, and borderline personality. The paintings were part of Luttrull’s 2018 ArtPrize installation “Disease Does Not Discriminate (Work in Progress)”. “I thought she was just acting out. I had to research it and learn about it. That’s when I truly understood that my daughter really did have ADHD. She was struggling. It wasn’t just acting it out. She wasn’t making it up. She was really suffering from this.”

It was through that 2018 ArtPrize series that Luttrull said she has found art creates a platform for people to openly discuss the disorders and diseases they have personally faced or have faced with loved ones. It is the reason Luttrull decided to partner with the non-profit mental health organization i understand and the local art group Experience Live Art to create the 2020 ArtPrize piece “We UnderSTAND Together.”

Unveiled at the Sept. 10 Pink Heart Day — a family-friendly event that raises awareness about suicide and prevention along with working to erase the stigma of depression and other mental health disorders — the ArtPrize piece brings together the community to paint tiles that Luttrull will then assemble into a giant butterfly.”

“With this piece we are trying to bring awareness of what people face in mental health and the stigmas that are attached to them,” Luttrull said. “So we are hoping by allowing people to express themselves through these tiles we can create a greater picture of how working together as a collective can overcome the stigmas of mental health.”

The goal is to collect about 2,000 tiles with organizers planning to attend various events throughout Grand Rapids to provide opportunities for community members to paint a tile or two. The community also will be invited to help break objects that will be used in the piece as well.

A rending of what the “We UnderSTAND Together” piece will look like when completed. (Supplied)

Vonnie Woodrick, founder of i understand, said the butterfly was chosen because it is a symbol of change.

“That we can be in a dark place but through time and transformation, we can have the ability to emerge into something beautiful,” she said.

Artist Leyna Luttrull at the Sept. 10 Pink Heart Day. (Photo by WKTV)

Along with hosting support groups and providing educational materials about suicide, i understand is working to eliminate the stigma of suicide by changing the definition of the word from “intentionally taking one’s own life” to “suicide’s role as a terminal side effect of mental illness and wanting one’s physical or emotional pain to end.”

Woodrick said she hopes that the 2020 ArtPrize project will help the public understand that everyone has some sort of pain.

“We want to be able to support each other through that pain no matter what it is, whether it is a mental health illness, whether it is cancer, whether it’s physical, whether it’s bullying,” she said.

The “We UnderSTAND Together” project will be visiting various local events to give the public an opportunity to paint tiles. (Photo by WKTV)

Steve Tibbe, one of the founders of Experience Live Art, said his organization looks to host platforms that help to promote local artists and increase exposure for healthy ways for creative outlets. The “We UnderSTAND Together” project fit those goals.

“This particular project focuses on bringing the community together and letting people connect with each other more than they think,” Tibbe said. “I think there is a lot of stuff through social media and just the technology today that we just feel connected but we are actually less connected. So people struggle with expressing themselves and their true feelings and just the ups and downs of life.”

Tibbe said he hopes the piece will be displayed in a prominent Grand Rapids location for ArtPrize 2020 so people can take selfies with the piece and use it let others know that they are not alone and they do understand what that person is experiencing.

To follow the “We UnderSTAND Together” project, visit the Facebook page or Experience Live Art’s website, experienceliveart.com. For more about i understand, visit iunderstandloveheals.org.