Mark A. Vasquez
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
David Cooperrider
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The EDI Institute partners with leading medical, community, and educational organizations to promote recovery and emotional resilience. Through imagery created on mobile devices, it enables those facing life’s challenges to express complex feelings and emotions that words alone cannot. The EDI Institute is focused on dramatically enhancing measurable clinical outcomes by enhancing therapeutic self-expression.
Expressive Digital Imagery® (EDI) is a therapeutic approach that enables those facing life’s challenges to express complex feelings and emotions that words alone cannot. Coping with challenges stemming from mental illness in his family, the founder of the EDI Institute found himself relying on photography as an outlet. It was through this personal experience that the roots of the company were born.
“The EDI Institute helps people who are facing challenges by promoting resiliency and recovery through self-expression,” says Olivia Burger, EDI Specialist. “What Steve [Koppel, EDI Institute founder] identified was a new mode of self-expression for those struggling to put their thoughts and feelings into words.”
Through the use of the MyMoments app – designed specifically for therapeutic self-expression through digital imagery – individuals can use a variety of tools to take, edit, and otherwise modify digital images to tell a story of what they are going through. MyMoments is part of an integrated solution that includes an EDI education and learning platform for professionals and clinicians, additional tools to support resilience via such things as books; print and multimedia displays; a worldwide database of imagery for use in education, advocacy, and research; and R&D programs to further EDI innovation and best practices.
Digital photography is ubiquitous, thanks to the prevalence of cell phones. Through its work, the EDI Institute has evolved this commonplace activity into a transformative, therapeutic tool. The universality of the EDI approach – it can be used with all genders, age groups, and more – speaks to its impact. Cancer hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, homeless shelters, and addiction centers are just some of the places that have benefited from the use of these tools. This makes the EDI approach well suited to implementation beyond its current focus in the New England area. It is now working to introduce the EDI approach nationally via a partnership with McLean Hospital (the top-ranked psychiatric hospital in the country).
With a degree in neuroscience and a background in art and psychology, Olivia realizes the significance of what the EDI Institute is pioneering. “We all have things we’re going through. Creativity can be quite therapeutic.” And the EDI Institute is leading the charge in using creativity to give a new voice to those who need it most.
From the EDI Institute website: Steven Koppel, a former senior partner at Accenture, founded the EDI Institute as a result of his own unexpected experience with digital imagery while coping with challenges stemming from mental illness in his family. Steve was soon joined by Dr. Julia Byers from Lesley University and Dr. Ken Sklar from Partners HealthCare to help lead the EDI Institute's efforts.
Since the EDI Institute's launch in 2013, over 2,000 EDI Institute participants have created over 5,000 remarkably expressive images. The initial pilot locations included McLean Hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Gosnold Addiction Center (New England’s largest independent addiction services provider), and Massachusetts General Hospital. EDI was also piloted at leading community organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and Rosie’s Place, a highly esteemed shelter for women.
As noted above, the impact of the EDI approach has resulted in the expansion of the program outside of New England. In December 2015, a major strategic partnership was announced with McLean Hospital to implement EDI nationally.
This partnership will also help to conduct the scientific research required to quantify clinical impact by gathering data on patient engagement and long-term outcomes. Nevertheless, it is already apparent that the approach has had great success in areas such as group expression and connection. Group sessions provide an opportunity for individuals to bond around common experiences. This creates conversation, which furthers the goal of giving voice to the previously inexpressible. In addition, work is underway to support ongoing recovery beyond the group and individual sessions. Opportunities for patient engagement will be key to this next phase.
The EDI Institute's many partnerships have resulted in new, innovative techniques for therapeutic self-expression. Their team includes leaders in the fields of psychiatry and mental health, expressive therapies, and photography from MGH, Lesley University, and Partners HealthCare. This has led to the growth of the business and the expansion of its impact on those who can benefit most from their products and services.
EDI Institute provides a much-needed expressive and therapeutic outlet for those living with mental illness. While the EDI Institute primarily serves cancer patients, the homeless, and others in the Boston area, it is expanding its outreach nationally.
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Olivia Burger, EDI Specialist
