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OakvilleBeaverLivingLIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-337-5560 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.comWalls that offer hope and healingBy Angela Blackburnstruggling to help themselves.OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFFWhile confidentiality issues mayhave hindered Walls of Hope fromentering any one particular traumahe journey toward healing centre clients life through a homefor a young person trauma-renovation, it will now be helpingTtized by abuse be it sexual, many youths through the confines of physical or neglect can begin the centre.with the wall they stare at.Last week, Walls of Hope teamThat wall could scare them.members and volunteers descendedOr, it could calm and comfort them Thursday morning to give the centre aand render them more open to letting makeover.people who are ready to help, break By Friday morning, the walls hadthrough their wall of pain.been repainted, the old furniture takenOakvilles Sera Mansueto who heads out and the carpeting replaced.up Walls of Hope knows it.By lunch time, murals were beingSo does Darryl Hall, executive direc-DANIEL HO / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVERpainted on the walls.tor of the Halton Trauma Centre.By mid-afternoon Sunday, theBetween the two of them, the 300 to 400reveal was exhibited.abused youths who annually cross theThe kids are going to love coming here,threshold of the centre in search of healingsaid Hall, echoing Mansuetos words.will begin their journey in an environmentHis hope is that not only will the environ-now boasting walls that portray a rainforest,ment be conducive to treatment, but that itbeach, ocean and a wild garden.may actually accelerate treatment some-Theyre going to love coming here, saidthing that could work to alleviate waiting lista determined Mansueto Friday.time.Both she and Hall are in the not forIts very important to get treatment toprofit business of helping those in need andyouths quickly in order to get them on theproviding them hope.road to healing and the future, said Hall.Hall heads up the centre, which is one of Hall also noted child abuse is so stigma-only a handful in the province that treatstized, its very difficult to get any type of cor-abuse survivors beyond their symptoms. porate backing for the centre.A team of psychiatrists, psychologists andThe Walls of Hope attention will reallysocial workers, through a high level of help put us on the map inPHOTOS BY MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVERclinical treatment, aim to get at theterms of that, he said.core of the abuse and make things asThough he personallyA TOUGH JOBright as can be for the victims so thatsaid the atmosphere was notDONE WITH CARE:they are able to move forward withso bad, Hall admitted thereAt top, Darryl Hall, execu-their lives not just cope with thewere some and he cast ative director of the Haltonexperience.long sideways glance atTrauma Centre is all smilesThe referral numbers are growing,Mansueto who didntat the 'reveal' of Walls of the waiting list is long (up to sevenshare that opinion.Hopes makeover of themonths) and sadly, government fund-At least the dentist has acentre's treatment roomsing, if not local fundraising, has beenTV to look at, smiledwhile volunteer Allisonall but slipping backward as the centreMansueto who founded WallsLane is relieved. Below, Altries to keep pace with demand andof Hope five years ago. ItPantalon helps paint whileprovide meaningful service.gives a hand up to those inWendi Speck works on aPHOTOS BY MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVERAll money that comes through theneed with the hope that itmural. Below, Walls of door of the trauma centre goes intowill be used by them to moveHope founder Serahelping its young clients.forward.Mansueto does her partThere has been no more to replaceIt has helped more than awhile Anthony Cinelli laysthe old burgundy couch in the waitingdozen families and four insti-carpet. At bottom, the newroom that makes the interior designertutions including Munnssurroundings at the Haltonin Mansueto cringe.Public School.Trauma Centre, whereHall said with no cash available toWhile the business of theWalls of Hope refinishedupgrade the centres furnishings, heHalton Trauma Centre isthe waiting area and fourapplied to the United Ways.very serious, the mood of theyouth treatment rooms.The application was passed along tovolunteers Friday was typicalWalls of Hope, a local non-profit groupof a Walls of Hope project that, through renovation of environ-upbeat and friendly.ments, hopes to give hope to thoseSee Trying page 18who are PHOTOS BY DANIEL HO / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVERwww.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, May 6, 2011 14