Cuddle-puddle project aims to boost mental health with 'Human Weighted Blanket'
A Montreal artist is working to address what he calls a “secondary pandemic” caused by isolation during the city’s lockdowns.
Artist Joshua Oliver, also known as Red Jay, is behind the Human Weighted Blanket project, aimed at alleviating loneliness and stress caused by the pandemic, offering hugs, cuddles, and massages to participants.
“I realized there would be a secondary pandemic of, not rapid, but intense mental health deterioration from isolation and loneliness,” said Oliver. “That’s kind of where I really where it sprang from,”
One woman, who joined the group of four therapists in the cuddle-puddle, moved to Canada during the pandemic and was impacted by the isolation of social distancing.
“I didn't have friends or family,” said Niloofar Nikbakht. “It was hard for me, and I could feel it sometimes that ... when I was faced with problems in life here ... I missed hugging.”
Oliver says he’s also struggled with anxiety -- something he noticed again during one of Montreal’s COVID-19 lockdowns. He says he wanted to help those suffering in silence with his project.
“It’s okay to be isolated or lonely, the world is collectively feeling that,” he said.
Sunday marked World Mental Health Day, and Oliver’s project was just one of several installations in the city calling attention to mental wellbeing.
You might have seen one of The Douglas Foundation’s large toy blocks stationed around Montreal.
The foundation's Laura Fish says one in three Canadians is affected by mental illness in their lifetime.
“That means, for me, its personal,” she told CTV News. “That means I've held a friend’s hand as she lost a husband to suicide. That means I've watched other friends really struggle with mental illness, and because mental illness touches everyone, and because we don't know enough, its super important to take action.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.