Getting to know.... Joey Supina

Profession: Executive director of Sandusky Artisans Recovery Community Center for over 20 years.Why did you pick this job field? The job kind of picked me. Back in 1996, I was asked by the mental health and recovery board if I would take over the center. I thought it over for a week, and I agreed to do it.What are the benefits of art therapy? Well from my experience, art has transformed my life. It is an avenue for people to express their emotions and experiences through their own artist attempt. For example, I would estimate we have done over 1,500 masks — mask art therapy— throughout Ohio. We encourage people to consider what the mask really represents to them. People are encouraged to reflect and express for a therapeutic art healing process. Just through my own experiences, art heals and has the power of recovery.In your opinion, why is it important for a community to offer guidance and support those with mental illness and substance abuse issues? I think a society is judged by how it treats the least of its individuals. It's ethical to help our fellow humans. Our community does a great job of helping and supporting individuals. Our community is involved. I think people with mental illness and addiction needs to be treated like everybody else, its a behavioral issue, and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Do you think Sandusky has a stigma with mental illness and substance abuse? To make a generalization like that would brush everybody opinions, positive and negative, into a broad statement. When you compare our community to other communities, we are pretty progressive. We have a mental health and recovery board, a hospital, health department, state agencies and law enforcement all working tirelessly to end the stigma. Not everybody is in agreement to help people, but a lot of people in Sandusky are respectful and helpful to those suffering.What advice would you give to somebody suffering? Come to the center if you are struggling. We can help you find the right doctors, help you find shelter and give you tools for recovery. Whatever people need, we try to help any way we can. It's special because everybody who works here, including myself, are all people in recovery and have suffered as well. I believe it makes it more relatable and comforting.Hobbies: Painting