Hope and Healing Through Art

The girls at My Refuge House, participating in their first Arts Aftercare Group

Art is powerful. It always has been, and always will be. Art has the capacity to touch the depths on your soul, in the places where words can’t fit. Whether it’s painting, dance, acting or singing, art is an incredible tool for healing.

For this reason, My Refuge House was thrilled to partner with Arts Aftercare. This Seattle based organization has collaborated with multiple therapists, counselors and art therapists to create a tool box of the most helpful art and expression activities for a group therapy program. They’ve put together a comprehensive engaging program that can be used by therapists and lay-people alike, and the results are incredible!

Ruth (Arts Aftercare), Dr. Ivonn and Crystal (My Refuge House) and Natalie (Arts Aftercare) standing in front of My Refuge House

Ruth Yeo Peterman, the Director of Mental Health and Program Development came to Cebu in June, along with her volunteer Natalie Small who is a school counselor and on break for the summer. We invited 10 of our partner organization in Cebu, all of which work with survivors of trauma to be a part of the 3 day training. Twenty-Five individuals learned how to facilitate this incredible art therapy program!

Look for updates in the coming weeks on our facebook page, as the girls at My Refuge House work through the Arts Aftercare curriculum.

Representatives from 10 of our partner organizations who partcipated in the Arts Aftercare Training