Art-Focused Trauma Care
Creating Safe Spaces to Process & Dream
Trauma often disrupts the brain's language centers, making expressing painful emotions and experiences challenging. Trauma can quickly leave you feeling isolated and hopeless without words to describe the pain.
Art provides a safe space for children to externalize pain caused by trauma without using words.
Exile International empowers children who have experienced trauma to heal and find solace through the creative arts. Providing a safe space for these children to express themselves through music, dance, drama, and drawing, their painful experiences are transformed into powerful pieces of art reflecting their hopes and dreams.
By sharing their stories with caregivers and peers, children can regain connection and resilience once lost to extreme physical and emotional traumas. This is key to recovering what trauma has stolen.
Healing through Creative Arts
Music
In most African cultures, music has been essential to celebrations, worship, and healing. For centuries, Songs have been used to share stories — bringing people together across generations and moments. A single child's song can teach many that they are not alone in their experiences, breaking down walls of isolation caused by past trauma.
Visual Arts
When children draw their pain, they begin releasing the burdensome weight of heartaches and memories they may lack words to express. Bypassing the limitations of language, children can then take ownership of their stories and find renewed hope for the future. With the help of compassionate counselors, drawing or painting on a blank canvas teaches children that it's okay to dream again!
Drama
Incorporating drama in weekly group therapy provides a safe space for children to express their experiences of war, captivity, and rescue. By acting together and sharing their stories, they build confidence, foster friendships, and develop strong communication skills.
Dance
Dance is a valuable tool in African culture for storytelling and emotional expression. Dancing has the ability to help children process their pain while simultaneously bringing joy and play into their lives — benefits that are essential for their well-being!