Trauma-informed art

The art programs that I have been doing for years, really exploded in terms of opportunities and venues in 2023. I have had the privilege of working in groups from ages 6 to 90! I absolutely love the therapeutic effect that doing creative projects have on the “doer.” This past year, I have been able to do consistent classes in juvenile detention in the classroom and for their substance abuse program, a Traumatic Brain Injury home with adult men, a micro-school with very special students, an assisted living facility with seniors with memory issues, summer camp for Armenian youth and camp for Ukrainian youth in an international location and an open studio for women. On top of that, we have an ongoing child sized rocking chair fund-raiser to donate to two recovery homes for children who have been removed from the sex trafficking and online exploitation industry. What an absolute blessing to be able to use my trauma-informed training and background to put together the curriculum and lead these programs! I am beyond belief that I have the privilege to do this and still work as a professional artist all these years as well. Thank you, those who have contributed to these outreaches and as we look for funding for the future, whether donations or grants, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as I feel compelled to expand this therapeutic and character building art program to reach summer camps for kids in foster care, kids in domestic violence shelters (which I have done quite a bit of in the past,) and dear to my heart, young people who are in recovery facilities that have come out of sex trafficking and exploitation situations. -Launa