#shawleveryday2019 Day 45

In addition to knitting, I also do a lot of quilting, so I was super pleased to find a couple programs for donating quilts to mental health hospitals.

Mental Health American Kentucky

Being admitted to a hospital is an anxious time. Everyone struggles with the uncertainties, the tests, the questions, the food, and the uncomfortable bed. Psychiatric patients are no different; however, often times these individuals are admitted under a veil of secrecy, fear and stigma. No one knows they’re in the hospital. No one knows they need support and a hug. Mental Health America of Kentucky wants to change that. We are starting an innovative project around that necessary hug. We are collecting quilts to donate to individuals admitted to psychiatric hospitals.

Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia

As the weather gets colder, nothing brings cozy comfort quite like a homemade quilt.

Imagine being in the hospital recovering from a mental illness and feeling alone, cold and afraid. Imagine how it would feel to be wrapped in a warm, colourful, homemade gift of love from someone you’ve never met?

Nurse Sheila Ethier founded The Blankets of Love Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Alberta Hospital in 1996 after spending time in a psychiatric hospital. A quilt made by her grandmother provided her with feelings of comfort, love and peace while she was struggling with mental illness. That experience inspired her to create a program that provides quilts to mental health inpatients across the country.

I also recommend reading Charlotte's post about how her great-grandmother's quilt became a life-preserver when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

​Trailing Ivy Shawl pattern