Cocreator - ReACH Coalition
Redemptive Arts for Community Health
COMMUNITY-BASED THERAPEUTIC CREATIVE WORKSHOPS
2012-2015 - Philadelphia, PA
ReACH (Redemptive Arts for Community Health) was series of workshops that were funded by Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. The series was created as a collaboration of four community organizations serving north Philadelphia: Ayuda Community Center, Esperanza Health Center, One Hope Community Church, and Casa de Consejeria. As the Arts Director of Ayuda, I worked with the Behavior Health Specialists at Casa to choose artistic mediums to pair with mental health topics chosen by community members such as anger management, addiction prevention, depression, suicide prevention, and reconciling relationships. I both taught and gathered others to teach a variety of artistic mediums. In 2015, I taught a printmaking workshop: Re-Imaging Life Free From Addiction. Each workshop was open to the public and was preceded by Trauma-Informed Care Trainings. Following the model of Esperanza’s Community Health Promoters, these trainings gathered community leaders to equip them with the tools they needed to promote community health and address wellness disparities found in their communities. Each training was facilitated by a licensed Behavioral Health Specialist and incorporated peer-to-peer learning.
Through ReACH, I was able to witness a wholistic approach to community health and wellness using creativity. These workshops were formative in shaping my desire to become an creative art therapist and use the arts to help individuals and communities find healing and transformation.
