Art Therapy Saves Schizophrenic Hit by Two Cars
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Robert Latchman(NEW YORK) — In 2011, Robert Latchman miraculously survived being hit by two cars — one struck him while walking across a New York City street, and then, in rapid succession, another vehicle delivered a second blow. Doctors were able to fix the physical injuries, a broken arm and leg, but the psychological recovery was more challenging.
Latchman, now 37, is an artist with learning disabilities and schizophrenia. Since the age of 19, he has been in an art therapy program, the Brooklyn-based League Education & Treatment Center, a nonprofit day program for adult artists with neurological disabilities.
In 2005, he was one of the first artists at its gallery and studio, League Art Natural Design or LAND, also in Brooklyn. But after his accident, Latchman took two years to heal, and his family and mentors at LAND feared he would never return to the art he loved.
Latchman had screws surgically implanted in his leg and physical therapy for his arm, which still gives him pain and is still not fully functional.
But with the help of his mentors at the center, who visited him every day during his rehabilitation, providing supplies and support, he has now returned to the gallery and is painting again. His is a success story for not only those who champion the disabled, but for the power of the arts to inspire and heal.
LAND uses art as a vehicle to teach life skills, while incorporating other modes of therapy and learning. Not only did the program cultivate Latchman’s passion for art, but it showcased his work — acrylics, watercolors, stencils and charcoal drawings — and made them available to the public.
In 2010, he sold a six-piece collection of boat and bridge paintings for $4,500 to JCrew, which is still on display in their Manhattan offices.
“Robert started thinking art, and living art. Everything was art, art, art,” said his mother, Mary Latchman, 58, a former factory worker. “When he got into that art studio, something happened. It changed his whole life. His behavior changed — everything changed. Now, every day he thinks about art.”
New York City’s League Center provides comprehensive education and treatment services to children and adults with developmental and psychiatric disabilities at no cost to the families.
Its art program was not fully formed when Robert Latchman enrolled, but it grew up around him. Its mission is to help the neurologically disabled discover their “strengths and gifts” in the arts, according to CEO Hannah Achtenberg Kinn.
“The arts are therefore, a hallmark of all our programs,” said Kinn. “From age two, to age 70, art of any kind provides a unique source of dignity, self-expression and identity that we hope to enable each person in our programs to achieve.”
“We want to help each person practice their art and in doing so, develop their own personal identity,” she said. “We want them to have what Freud said was essential in life: purpose and community. That’s what we’re working to provide. The League Education and Treatment Center is a community of artists.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio