Local military and first responders relieve stress through art

A Calgary artist has spent the past three years helping military members and first responders deal with stress through painting in nature.

Todd Lachance is an artist who started Plein Air MD in 2022 as a way for military members and first responders to manage their stressful careers that, in some cases, lead to post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI).

Lachance takes participants into natural settings around southern Alberta and teaches them to paint what they see.

“I’ve seen art therapy where it’s done in a classroom, but just with the addition of nature, it’s just that extra component of reconnecting with nature,” he said.

“I’m not trying to turn them into artists; I just get them out and just give them a good day.”

Lachance has been painting for 30 years.

He saw a need to help people in stressful careers and started Plein Air MD.

“My goal is to get them in the zone where they’re creating with their minds and their hands in the eyes of nature and putting it all together and losing themselves in it, and that sort of starts a healing process, I think,” he said.

“These are the people that keep us safe and healthy, and to help that community so they can do their jobs better just makes everybody safer and healthier.”

Barb Maller is a nurse at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in the oncology unit.

“I just get to be a helper and try and make a terrible experience for them and their families a little more bearable,” she said.

“I have noticed, though, that when I have my days off, I really need to take some time and not just, you know, get the groceries and get the laundry done; I need to do some things for myself to decompress.”

This was Maller’s third outing with Lachance, and on this outing, they were at Mallard Point in Fish Creek Provincial Park, set up close to a tributary of the Bow River.

“It does really help me decompress; it’s really relaxing for me, and especially if you combine that with a beautiful day, there’s nothing better,” she said.

“I have my sister (Alison Young) with me today; that’s another great way for me to decompress—just being with my family because I love my family and they’re really important to me.”

Maller shares some of her heart-wrenching stories with Young, who says her heart goes out to the children and her sister.

Lachance opens the sessions up to family members of military and first responders as well.

“It’s pretty fun to get out here and just hear the birds and the water and let your creative side take over,” said Young.

“It’s pretty interesting because when you paint, you see more of the detail, you notice more things. It perks up your senses, I guess.”

Julie Heyland is a medical office assistant at her husband’s practice. (He’s a rheumatologist.)

She balances her career along with three children and says her stress level can peak during the workweek.

“I think there’s a lot of good in prevention,” she said.

“So if I can take these moments for myself and kind of calm down, feel the wind, feel the sun, listen to the water, listen to the birds, it makes a big difference in my mental health and sanity to be able to just calm down and kind of recharge.”

Lachance says he’s looking to expand and would like to one day include teachers in Plein Air MD.

You can learn more about it at https://toddlachance.ca/plein-air-md.