The Healing Tree
Bill Guiney’s art adds a sense of home to Gathering Place grounds
Wood carver Bill Guiney stands with his work “The Healing Tree,” in The Gathering Place’s garden in St. John’s Tuesday. He completed it and another work as gifts for The Gathering place.
For more than two years, Bill Guiney has worked hard to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.
Truth be told, he and his wife Susan, have likely done this their entire lives.
But a serious family situation caused them to rethink what they do and why and how they can make a difference in the lives of people with mental health issues.
The latest project is a pair of carvings Guiney completed at the Gathering Place in St. John’s.
Guiney was approached by St. John’s Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’leary about six weeks ago. She had seen his work and wondered if there was something he could do to help the Gathering Place.
“She told me what they do there and I decided I would go and take a look. After I got in there, and they showed me what they do, it was an easy decision.
“These people really touch people’s lives here and make a difference.” Guiney looked around the garden portion of the property and found that two of the three trees there could be worked with, so he set out with a design and his trusty chainsaw and in a day and a half they were done.
He was on site Tuesday putting the finishing touches on the carvings, one of a “Lord of the Rings”-type character with the word “Hope” next to the weathered old face, and the second, a single hand raised to the sky. The final stage was for Guiney to varnish the carvings in order to protect them from the elements.
“The people that volunteer here, the work they do. They are incredible,” he said.
“The people that come here, they all have a variety of issues, many of which are mental health issues, and they need some help. I wanted to do this project to support these people and draw attention to the fact that there are people out there who need help, and places like this are there for them to get it,” he added.
Joanne Thompson, executive director of the Gathering Place, said having Guiney complete his art project and seeing how well it fits into the garden meshes with the values and goals the organization was founded on.
“We are building a community here. The people that come here participate in activities like our gardens, and it broadens that community. That is what we do.’’ Thompson said. “There is a buy-in here, to this space, that all the people that come here want to participate by doing what we can and working together.”
She said the garden is their space and contributing to it helps them feel good about themselves.
It takes more than 800 volunteers to run the Gathering Place and by allowing clients to take part in the programs, but also to give them some meaningful duties, like working in the garden and paying them for their work, is a boost to their sense of self-worth.
She said for clients, just earning some money to go and get a coffee is great for their selfesteem and dignity, which is part of their individual healing process.
Bill and Susan Guiney know first-hand how traumatically mental health can affect people’s lives and they have worked for several years to assist people with the issues surrounding mental health.
Their story involves their daughters, who several years ago, both attempted suicide — just four days apart.
“From a selfish part of this, I do it because of my daughters,” Bill Guiney said. “They see I have done something good to try and help people and they go out and do the same.’’
The Guineys have organized several events to encourage people to seek help and not take the same drastic measures attempted by their daughters.
The initial event was a pushup challenge which sees Guiney and a few of his friends do as many pushups as possible on a designated day, raising funds and awareness for mental health issues.
This past Christmas, the Guineys decorated a tree with ornaments — a lone spruce on the barrens of Highway 10 on the Southern Shore, slightly more than seven kilometres north of Portugal Cove South, to raise awareness of mental health issues and the availability of help for people who are suffering.