Healing Workshops
With active shooter drills, school lockdowns, and increased threats, our new “normal” prepares students for the pervasive threat of gun violence. Our workshop, a collaboration between Shooting Survivors Support and Too Many Bodies, provides students with the tools and opportunity to explore their own diverse experiences and contribute to this important national dialogue.
By facilitating peer-to-peer connections, this collaborative process helps students answer three essential questions:
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How do we create a stronger culture of community, connection, and support at our school?
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How can we impact the kind of change we’d like to see on a local or national level?
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What creative outlets can we use to share our experiences and opinions with the rest of the world?
During a time when leaders across the country are seeking intersectional solutions to the gun violence epidemic, our program invites students into the conversation as change-makers on an issue that impacts their day-to-day lives and our shared future.
Art saves lives. People who have an outlet; a way to express their innermost selves and their hearts, are more connected even when deeply troubled. Many of our youth live with gun violence whether it be through mass shootings, gang violence, or abusive home lives. We propose a workshop that would give youth and young adults both the opportunity and the psychological support to process this reality through art, with the intended result of imagining less violence in their direct lives, and sharing a coping mechanism they can practice on their own.This collaboration seeks to bring together self expression and healing with creative output. By opening up through therapist vetted exercises,inspiring creativity by showing the video and discussing it, then providing a safe space and guidance, we aspire to help participants create their own work. Workshops can be created to suit individual or classroom goals with workshops ranging from a single three hour workshop with a small project to a six week program creating an expansive project such as a film or stage show. Passion and connection can break through the fear and apathy of living with “the new normal.” We seek to break through that apathy with empathy, understanding and love.
"This video reminds me; I was talking to someone from a different country and he feels unsafe here. It is exhausting for him to come to the US. I realized that I am just used to being under that stress and am hyper aware of my surroundings and always being in flight or fight while in public.m a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy." - Emily -
"The more we reach out, the more we check in, the more we are aware of our decisions and how they affect those around us; the more we can participate in the act of love rather than the act of violence." - Darby -
"The human connection can truly take one far- through art, conversation, and nature." - Ana -