{"id":822205,"date":"2026-08-22T15:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822205\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T15:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:14:08","slug":"artists-have-specific-mental-health-needs-and-she-found-a-way-to-help-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822205\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists have specific mental health\u00a0needs\u00a0and she found a way to help\u00a0 \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a few reasons behind why Blanca Lucia Bergman<\/a> started Mental Wellness for Artists<\/a>, and one of them came from a Facebook group. In 2021, she was hearing from local artists during the pandemic about how they\u2019d lost work, or couldn\u2019t afford food or rent, and wanted to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt broke my heart, and when something deeply matters to me, I tend to be someone who takes positive action, rather than lament or be sad or just let something transpire without contributing to the solution,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Her organization started on Instagram as space for artists in San Diego County to find mental health resources. Having earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in cognitive science and a master\u2019s in business administration, she used her connections in the arts and business communities to start this project, and has since expanded MWA to hosting mental health-related events, presentations, and resource fairs at museums, galleries, concerts, festivals, and alternative art spaces (including the recent \u201cSeen & Whole\u201d art exhibition currently on display through Aug. 30 at the Congregational Church of La Jolla, and its companion \u201cCome As You Are: Seen & Whole\u201d storytelling event earlier this month).<\/p>\n

A curator, consultant,\u00a0and public speaker, Bergman, 52, founded MWA in 2022. She lives in\u00a0University Heights with her husband, Jess, (who\u2019s\u00a0also her bandmate in their goth rock-inspired band, Poised in the Darkness) and daughters Natalia and Lucia. She took some time to talk about\u00a0her personal connections to her mental health work, her cognitive science background, and\u00a0her brief time learning African dance in Ghana and Togo.<\/p>\n

Q: In addition to hearing from local artists who were struggling during the pandemic, you also have some personal reasons for starting Mental Wellness for Artists?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0At the same time, I was advocating for one of our daughters to get her support and to get a clinical psychologist to review her situation to determine whether or not she had a certain diagnosis. As someone who studied the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and who studied cognitive science, I had a pretty strong feeling that there were things going on, but I\u2019m also not equipped to diagnose anyone, so I needed professional support to confirm. It took me almost one year of getting the run-around in a broken mental health system to finally reach an answer. Meanwhile, my daughter was suffering mentally and confused about why she felt certain ways. I thought, \u2018This is nonsense. No family, no individual should have to go through this, and if the mental health and healthcare systems, at large, are not going to support my family, I need to take action. I need to find out what is out there and available.\u2019 I have several diagnosed disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, so this topic is important to me.<\/p>\n

When I was studying cognitive science at UC Irvine, and I read the DSM in my 20s, I thought, \u2018Oh, I feel sorry for people who are suffering from mental health disorders,\u2019 not realizing or wanting to admit to myself that I was one of those people, that I was a person experiencing severe anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder with panic attacks, or major depressive disorder, or specific phobias, and even complex post-traumatic stress disorder. I was in denial about being one of those people, and it wasn\u2019t until after I graduated and saw a therapist, that I was formally diagnosed. That hurt, but over time, I\u2019m grateful to have learned what was happening with me and what I could do about it.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0When you were first diagnosed, what do you think made it feel hurtful?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Because initially, I viewed it incorrectly. I viewed it as a weakness, I viewed it as a character flaw, so I had the wrong idea about it. What led to a wiser idea about mental health disorders is where my husband comes in. I experienced deep anxiety and depression for a long time, including through my first marriage. It wasn\u2019t until my divorce, and meeting my husband, Jess, soon after and developing a serious relationship, ultimately getting married, that I experienced what a healthy relationship and a healthy environment looked like. Then, I was able to decrease the intensity and frequency of my symptoms. For example, I no longer felt anxiety at night about someone breaking into the house, or about someone coming in and doing something to me or to my family, which is something I experienced up until the age of 40, which amazes me when I think about it. It\u2019s a long time to live with deep anxiety, but I lived that as a young person, and it wasn\u2019t until I met Jess and he created a safe and beautiful environment for my daughters and I, that I understood the power of living in a safe and loving environment. That\u2019s where my transformation began. I did tons of additional research on anxiety, depression, the different types of anxiety disorder, and also on ADHD because that runs in my family. It was through research and learning self-compassion, and also compassion in general, that I began to grow and see mental health disorders differently. I began to feel compassion toward myself and others, and to understand what that means for those of us who have mental illnesses-what it means in our relationships, our workplaces, in the ways we carry ourselves in public. It was through being in a healthy environment, through feeling compassion for myself, through the research, through trial-and-error, and developing concepts\u2026that I began to see the world and myself differently because now I was living with purpose.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0You earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in cognitive science from UC Irvine. What led to your interest in this field?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0When I was in my early teens, I was a rebellious kid. This would surprise many people, by the way. I was a rebellious kid, occasionally being escorted to school by the police. I\u2019ve never shared this with anyone, but I don\u2019t mind if you put this out there. I mean, I was a nightmare teenager, and I was going down a very dark path. One of my cousins, Angela, set me aside one time and had a tough love conversation with me, and essentially said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t turn your behavior around right now, and start helping your mom instead of making life more difficult for her,\u201d because, at the time, she was alone with four children, including myself, the oldest. My dad was in prison when I was an early teen. And Angela said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t turn your life around, you\u2019re going to end up in prison. You\u2019re going to end up in a gang (which I was very close to joining). You\u2019re going to end up as a mom on welfare with several children, or you\u2019re going to end up dead. So you decide.\u201d That stung, as you may imagine, but it\u2019s what I needed at that time. I\u2019m getting kind of choked up thinking about it. So, I went from being a failing student to earning my first B, which I was really proud of, and then earning mostly As. Then, graduating with honors from high school, and also from UC Irvine with honors, and getting all As in my MBA. I took her words to heart, and I admired her. She was going to college at UC Irvine and studying psychology and cognitive science, and that\u2019s why I went to UC Irvine.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Where is Angela now?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0She is living in a very remote part of Mexico with her four children and her husband. They have a very unique lifestyle; they homeschool their children, and their children are brilliant. They are young authors, they are engineers; they just have such an unusual, but beautiful lifestyle. They live very minimally and very humbly, and they grow fruits and vegetables and do farming.<\/p>\n

What I love about University Heights\u2026<\/p>\n

We have the best neighbors here\u00a0because we practiced\u00a0music,\u00a0up until my husband developed\u00a0a very serious\u00a0health condition.\u00a0We were practicing every Monday or Wednesday night, and there\u00a0were no complaints, and our neighbors\u00a0support\u00a0our music.\u00a0Both sets of\u00a0neighbors, on the left\u00a0and\u00a0the right,\u00a0are very friendly. They bring us lemons and treats,\u00a0and we give each other presents at Christmastime.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0How does your background in cognitive science inform your approach to the mental health of artists and creatives?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0I feel a deep compassion because I know when I hear, and even just see behaviors, I often can identify what might be going on, and all the painful symptoms that come along with the diagnosis. That impacts the way I listen, the way that I communicate\u2014always aiming to speak and listen without judgment and with caring, and to offer words of hope because I oftentimes find that many artists do not have that. They don\u2019t have words of encouragement, they don\u2019t hear words of hope often enough. Instead, they are approached with, \u201cWhat do you really do for a living?\u201d Or, \u201cWhat\u2019s your \u2018real job\u2019?\u201d and those are hurtful words. So, I try to be support, a little seed of positivity and hope. Cognitive science was an excellent starting point because the more we understand something, the better and wiser we are able to communicate on that subject, and the more compassion we feel.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0What kinds of mental health support are you providing for folks in the local arts community?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Last year, we offered a totally free resource fair. It was the third annual resource fair at the Mingei International Museum, and that was such a beautiful, creative, and imaginative event. I scouted certain vendors at farmers\u2019 markets and brought part of the farmers\u2019 market to the museum. We had these gorgeous, colorful gourmet mushrooms as soon as you entered the space, followed by our community partner, Olivewood Garden, with their plants, and we had a master gardener next to them. We had plants throughout the space because I know that, in some countries, plants are prescribed for mental health. Then, we had modern dance, curated art, and speakers that were diverse in ethnicity and subject matter expertise, including an attorney who\u2019s an expert in negotiation, but also in healthy communication and has written on the subject.<\/p>\n

This year, we\u2019re doing it again, also at the Mingei. This time, it\u2019s going to be the youth edition on Sept. 28 from 5 to 8 p.m. What I envision for that event is an ice cream social, art making station by Bastian Colores, mental wellness for artists, and visual artist, Joseph Henseler, will also host a booth where youth can make art. There will be some local and national mental health resources, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness. There will be free, gently used clothing, and free brand new makeup and goodie bags, and activities. There will be an opportunity for the youth to communicate about topics of interest to them related to mental health, and an activity teaching and reinforcing healthy boundaries, which is something I see many people struggle with at all ages. Research shows that we have a difficult time saying no, particularly to people we don\u2019t know very well, because we want to come across favorably, so we hesitate to say no. That\u2019s an opportunity to learn the art of no.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Do you find that those mental health needs look different than for people who are not artists? Are there specific needs or struggles that the rest of us may not notice or consider? What do they say about what some of those issues are for them?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Oftentimes, in the arts, we have a unique set of challenges. For instance, many of us stay up late. For example, we\u2019ll stay up late to perform. We don\u2019t get home until 2 or 3 in the morning, and we\u2019re not the only ones. Other performers also experience sleep deprivation, and sleep deprivation negatively impacts our cognitive and mental health; the data is prevalent. The other thing is prevalent is access to drugs. When I worked at tech and biotech companies, I didn\u2019t see people passing anything around or offering (drugs); that\u2019s just not something that typically happens. But, within the arts community, you do see that. Along with that and the sleep deprivation, there\u2019s a lack of access to quality healthcare, as another big challenge within our community.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0What is the best advice you\u2019ve ever received?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Probably the best advice is what my cousin Angela gave me,\u00a0\u00a0which is to assess the situation. It\u2019s a phrase I\u2019ve used again and again since then. I use it with my kids, \u201cJust stop and assess the situation, and make a wise decision. Not the right decision, but a wise decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0Aside from being escorted to school by police officers, it would be that I spent one month each in Ghana and Togo, in Africa, in the early 2000s. As a creative outlet, I was a dancer with the San Diego State African Drum and Dance Ensemble. I went to Ghana to learn their dances and bring them back to the United States and perform at San Diego State University, and also the Lyceum Theater, parades, and other public spaces.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.<\/p>\n

A: My ideal San Diego weekend would involve a nature walk, going to the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego because they always have beautiful art exhibitions. It would also involve visiting any one of our many hidden gems in San Diego. I just read about this teeny, tiny little bookstore way in the back at Mission Hills Nursery. I love visiting places that are new and interesting and tucked away. It doesn\u2019t have to be anything majestic, but just unusual and beautiful, something with character or something unique.<\/p>\n

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