South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) invites the community to its upcoming event, Lumination: Light as Medicine, a collaboration between SPSCC’s Art Department and Mental Health Counseling Services with support from the Office of Student Life and the SPSCC Mental Health Promotion Committee. The event will take place on Tuesday, November 18, and Wednesday, November 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on SPSCC’s Olympia Campus in Building 27, Room 119. Demonstrations and giveaways will be featured from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
Lumination offers a unique opportunity to explore the connection between light and human health through art and science. Visitors will experience a gallery showcasing student artwork that examines how light influences wellness, including sculptures created in the classrooms of SPSCC Art Professors Joe Batt and Liza Brenner and poetry from the classroom of SPSCC English Professor Kathleen Byrd. Alongside the art exhibits, faculty from the SPSCC’s Mental Health Counseling Services will lead interactive sessions that explain how human biology evolved in relationship with sunlight and why light is essential for maintaining health. Attendees will learn about SPSCC’s new clinical-grade light therapy devices, available for check-out at the SPSCC Library to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and experience demonstrations of alternative devices such as a light visor that delivers blue-enriched light.
Ross Artwohl, LICSW, Counseling Faculty at SPSCC’s Mental Health Counseling Services, shared the importance of this event: “Light plays a critical role in our mental and physical health. Many people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder during the darker months. Understanding how to use light to maintain health allows us to take proactive steps to feel and function better. Lumination is about education, creativity, and giving our community tools to thrive.”
The event will also feature fun activities and giveaways, including light-themed items and a chance to win a TUO Circadian Smart Bulb & Shadeless Lamp Set designed by University of Washington scientists to help treat SAD. Lumination is an engaging way to discover how light can serve as medicine for the brain and body while enjoying creative works from SPSCC students and faculty.
