While I was on my clinical rotation at a behavioral hospital, I had an opportunity to observe many patients undergoing different mental health illnesses. It was my first time ever exploring amental health hospital; therefore, I was having many emotional thoughts.

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For example, when I talked with many of the clients, whether they were in adolescent unit, PICU, or women's unit, they all gave me an impression that they do not want to stay in the hospital or a long termunit. Many of them told me they are trying to get better as quickly as possible and they plan to go out and live as regular people.

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For my art piece, I choose to focus on one specific patient who is admitted in to the adolescent unit and her journey to get well and proceed to her life.. Even though I focused on one particular patient, myart piece also represents many of the clients' journeys to getting better This particular patient was admitted involuntary by her parents. Her diagnosis was depression and anxiety with suicidal ideation. Every time I talked to her, she told me how anxious she was to go home. She told me she is doing everything she isasked to do in order to get better and go on with her regular life with her sister and her whole fumily.

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Therefore, for my art piece, I choose to paint a woman swimming in a deep ocean, trying to get to the surface so she can feel safe and breathe freely. I painted the water in three different shades of blue which represent the various depths of the water. I represent the client's admission of the patient using thedeepest part of the ocean. The deepest part of the ocean may contain sharks and others dangerous creatures, which could cause danger to the person who gets into that deepest part. If a person ever gets to that deepest part of the ocean, she will have to swim very hard or get some help to get to the top of the ocean in order to save her life.

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The middle part of the ocean is the patient's time in the hospital. The middle part of the ocean contains fishes as well as sharks. The patient goes through many struggle and tasks to get better. It is not only taking her medication will get her better; she has to participate in a group, exercise, and may perform different activities. She might not enjoy doing all those activities, but they have to be a part of her recovery inorder to get onto the road of getting better; this it is represented on my painting as the middle part of the ocean.

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Finally, it is the top of the ocean where the swimmer gets a final hope to see dry land and breathe. This part represents the client's discharge plan; this is where the patient finally feels in control and happy.