b'HEALTH & WELLNESSTOOLS FOR WELLNESSIMPROVISING A WAY FORWARD TOWARD MENTAL HEALTHBy ABIGAIL WRIGHT PEREIRAAs we brace for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, many of us face challenges unlike any we have encountered before. Maintaining ones mental health may feel like a tight-wire act over Niagara Falls. As part of its October webinar series, ORBA addressed mental health and wellness, featuring the webinar TOOLS IN YOUR TOOLBOX: Strategies for Building Mental Health in the Construction Industry, held on October 29 and presented by Nancy Watt, President of Nancy Watt Communications. Watt, a Second CityConservatoryalumna,is asought-afterspeaker,writerandimproviser whopresentsdynamic workshops on mental health and communications in unconventional environments.At first glance one might wonder what improv has to do with mental health. Earlier this fall via a zoom meeting, while I was in my basement office and Watt at her cottage, I asked her to tell the story of how improv can lay the foundation for the roadmap toward mental health and wellness.How did you first make the connec- to be part of St. Josephs HealthcareAn unconventional idea, but the tion to implement improv intoQuality Council for Addiction andcommunity centre staff thought it psychology as a means to helpMental Health in Hamilton as partwas worth a shot. It was. Mostly people to improve mental health? of their Patient and Family Advisoryattended by young male sex-trade NANCY WATT:This strangeCouncil. I became intrigued byworkers and other street kids, this convergence of improv, mentalthe emerging science of optimalimprov workshop series was very human functioning, and so I becamesuccessful. They didnt come back health and positive psychologyaccredited in positive psychology. for the counselling, free muffins or came together unexpectedly. I washousing applications, but they kept acting and needed to improve myI was also inspired by this story.coming back for improv. Why might performance in auditions, so I wentYears ago, improv workshops werethat be? As it turns out, we learn and to Second City improv classes. Atoffered at a mental health drop-inheal while laughing and connecting around the same time I was askedcentre in downtown Toronto.with each other.18Volume 16, Issue 4|www.orba.org'