(Facebook/ Pinehouse Club)

By Nigel Maxwell

Youth mentoring

Photography club helps troubled youth find focus

Jun 14, 2019 | 11:31 AM

A program that helps troubled youth heal through photography has received a $9,000 provincial grant.

Pinehouse Photography, founded by Dre Erwin in early 2016, was one of 400 programs in the province to benefit this week from the Community Initiatives Fund (CIF). Projects eligible for the grant must contribute to the well-being of children and youth, families, and communities.

“It doesn’t matter whose picture is better, it’s about telling your story through the camera lens” _{– Erwin}

Erwin, who is also a Primary Care nurse at Pinehouse, told paNOW that since the program’s very humble beginnings, his enrollment has exploded to 50 children who range in age from 9 to 18 years old. He said many of the kids who come to him to learn about photography are dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression and addictions.

“A lot of the youth are not comfortable talking about mental health so [photography] allows them an outlet to express their emotions and feelings in a positive way without even saying a word,” he said.

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The goal of the assignment this day was to go get a hug from an elder. (Facebook/ Pinehouse Club)

In addition to taking pictures, the youth also learn how to edit them, and then have an opportunity afterwards to discuss with their peers why they took the picture and what the pictures mean to them. Erwin said the club creates a positive environment for the youth, by giving them a feeling of being a part of something.

“You know a lot of these kids sometimes don’t feel cared for, sometimes don’t feel like they are going down the right direction of life, sometimes they don’t have a lot of people supporting them, like they don’t have that guidance sometimes” he said.

Erwin says the photography club is not about who takes the best picture, but rather telling a story through a camera lens. (Facebook/ Pinehouse Photography)

Erwin said he plans to use the grant money to buy 30 more cameras, and explained they do receive federal money to help the kids who have treaty status, but there is still a handful of kids who do not identify as status. Erwin said he hopes his idea can spread to other communities,

“We want to help other kids in other communities so now we have organizations all over the country, you know, emailing us and phoning us and starting their own little photography clubs based on therapeutic photography,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell