Adults

Arts Connection
California
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
I worked with my mother who is 62 years old on the Heart Stories workshop activity. She wanted to participate in this activity because as a retired nurse she enjoys participating in workshops that highlight mental health awareness.  With this workshop she w…
Swain Recovery Center
North Carolina
  • Substance Abuse Recovery
  • Substance Abuse Recovery
Lauren is an AWBW facilitator at Swain Recovery Center, a residential treatment program for substance use and mental health. “Art has been a very helpful tool in building relationships between myself and clients, clients and other staff members, and the client…
Shepherd's Door Domestic Violence Resource Center
California
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
This modified story tree workshop using a floral format allowed participants (survivors of domestic violence at Shepherd’s Door) to access vulnerability while staying grounded in creativity. Participants connected deeply to the symbolism of the flower bloom…
Helping Hands Resource Center
California
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Domestic Violence
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Sexual Assault
This powerful "Uplifting Voices: Facilitator Stories" video features Karen Gonzalez, founder of Helping Hands Resource Center in Los Angeles. Karen is a domestic violence and sexual abuse survivor herself and became a Windows Facilitator in 2014. Here she shar…
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
I facilitated the Vision Flowers art workshop for a group of community members looking to reconnect with their inner voice and reflect on the personal values guiding their lives. Inspired by Manuela Rojas’ Personal Needs Flower, this workshop invited attendees…
Connecticut Alliance for Victims of Violence & Their Families
Connecticut
  • Domestic Violence
  • Advocacy
  • Domestic Violence
  • Sexual Assault
The opportunity to create a Permission Canvas, as an AWBW facilitator, was very timely for me. I realized there are so many things I don’t give myself permission to do. I picked feeling safe and warm because during the training I realized that I had a big conn…
Desert Sanctuary Inc/Haley House
California
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
A lady came in for group who was very stoic at first. When I gave directions and asked if she had any questions she didn't, she was very quiet. I played music and shared about the art and what it did for me and she began to open up when she described her ar…
Teta's Workshops
Massachusetts
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
This story is from a workshop with survivors of violence who are isolated from family and friends during this pandemic. I chose this workshop to teach the art of journaling and its use as a meditative practice. One participant shared “I wasn't very eager to…
Riverside County District Attorney's Office
California
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold metals, is a powerful metaphor for life and personal growth. The fragments of broken pottery symbolize the challenges and trauma in our life journey. We acknowledge that our scars do not diminish our wort…
Students Turn 4 Greatness
California
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
One day we were creating masks as part of the “Revealing Power and Beauty” workshop. As usual, everyone was fairly quiet as they worked. Suddenly, in the middle of the workshop, Terry thrust her mask down and began crying. She said, “I hate this.” She reach…
Insight Human Services Women’s Recovery Center
North Carolina
  • Substance Abuse Recovery
  • Court & Legal System
  • Substance Abuse Recovery
Lissa is an AWBW facilitator who works at Insight Human Services Women’s Recovery Center in North Carolina. She holds a weekly art group with women who are often mandated by the court or the Department of Social Services to participate in substance use treatme…
Lavender Healing Collective
California
  • LGBTQIA+
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • LGBTQIA+
  • Staff & Organizational Development
Tiombe Wallace shares the powerful ways art fosters self and community care, particularly for Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color survivors, advocates, and hotline workers. Through AWBW’s creative workshops, staff and interns find support du…
Oregon State University-Cascades
Oregon
  • Schools & Universities
  • Mental Health
  • Schools & Universities
I facilitated Touchstone Journey for Resident Assistants (RAs) who were navigating the aftermath of a significant conflict within their residence hall and team. This group of students came from a variety of backgrounds but shared the challenge of processing th…
Silent No Longer Tennessee
Tennessee
  • Community Engagement
  • Community Engagement
  • Sexual Assault
I work with adult survivors of sexual assault and use various forms of art to help them process their trauma and tell their stories. Several of my clients said they wanted to do a project for the 5th anniversary of the #metoo hashtag. I decided to do an art ex…
Blossoms Windows
California
  • Grief & Loss
  • Grief & Loss
  • Mental Health
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
A good friend of mine, Dougie, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge at the end of May. He was only 56 years old. Within days of his passing, his widow, Sigrid, and I began talking about how brave he was – the way he handled his diagnosis, the thousand decisions tha…
YWCA - San Gabriel Valley
California
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
Ceirra and Melissa are AWBW facilitators who work in the WINGS (Women in Need Growing Strong) Domestic Violence Program at YWCA San Gabriel Valley. They provide educational support groups in both emergency and transitional shelter settings, as well as through …
South Asian Helpline And Referral Agency
California
  • Domestic Violence
  • Domestic Violence
This quarter, I facilitated a healing arts workshop called Healing Through Nature and Framing Our Strength for a group of domestic violence survivors who had each weathered their own storms of loss, fear, and broken trust. Many participants entered the space c…
Between Friends
Illinois
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Foster Care
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
I started working with this participant three months ago, and much of our work together has centered on her experience of missing/grieving her child who is currently in DCFS as well as processing her own experience of being in the system. The "Growing Resil…
Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center
California
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Community Engagement
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Immigration
  • Mental Health
  • Self-Care & Personal Growth
  • Social Justice
This “Innovator Spotlight” video features Christina Kataoka, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center (APADRC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving race and human relations for over three decades using mediation, r…
Richstone Family Center
California
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Facilitator Spotlights
  • Mental Health
This “Uplifting Voices: Facilitator Stories” video features Jaymie Miller, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne, California. A Windows Facilitator since 2016, Jaymie shares about one of her favorite workshops to …
Volusia Recovery Alliance, Inc.
Florida
Volusia Recovery Alliance, Inc.
Florida
I am a former Firefighter and was gifted a scholarship to become an AWBW facilitator. With that I have been able to take AWBW into the Fire Department. Classes always range in size and there is usually someone that will stop in and end up opening up …
Volusia Recovery Alliance, Inc.
Florida
Volusia Recovery Alliance, Inc.
Florida
Identity Masks is a workshop that is all about reflecting on the different aspects of our life and all the roles we play as a friend, husband/wife, brother/sister, mom/dad, and/or our role at work. I have done this workshop with first responders, …
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
Values Ornaments was a workshop centered on reconnecting with the qualities that guide, ground, and inspire us, especially as we move into a new year. Together, our community explored how personal values shape our choices, our relationships, and our …
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
Our Healing Hands was a workshop centered on celebrating our sense of touch and bringing awareness to all the creative and connective ways we use our hands. The session incorporated the Japanese healing art of Jin Shin Jyutsu, which aligns each finge…
Radiant Futures
California
Radiant Futures
California
These drawings were created by a participant who sought services as part of the requirements to reunify with her child who was removed by DCS, as well as to heal from the trauma stemming from her experiences with domestic violence and childhood sexua…
Counseling Partners LLC
Indiana
Counseling Partners LLC
Indiana
John* grew up in a single parent home and shared he has experienced some trauma throughout his life. He went to college and onto getting his master’s, then he worked in the physical world of sports and training. He is proud of all of the work he has …
Pinnacle Community Services
New York
Pinnacle Community Services
New York
Our healing art facilitator partnered with a local housing program to deliver an empowerment workshop with an opportunity for a healing art project afterwards.  She chose to walk participants through the “At the Core Community Mural Project.” Toge…
Arts Connection
California
Arts Connection
California
I worked with my mother who is 62 years old on the Heart Stories workshop activity. She wanted to participate in this activity because as a retired nurse she enjoys participating in workshops that highlight mental health awareness.  With this work…
Safe Place for Youth
California
Safe Place for Youth
California
On September 24, 2025 I facilitated the AWBW workshop “I Am Strong Because." Both art workshop participants have had domestic violence experiences that left them dealing with trauma and have experienced housing insecurity. With this workshop the i…
Stepping Forward LA
California
Stepping Forward LA
California
I facilitated a 30-minute virtual workshop for Stepping Forward LA’s paid internship program, which serves young adults ages 18 to 27 who have experienced foster care. Many participants are single parents or navigating housing instability while balan…
Community Health Action of Staten Island
New York
Community Health Action of Staten Island
New York
On September 20th, in Kathmandu, Nepal, 35 graduate students pursuing their Master’s in Mental Health Counseling participated in a Touchstone art workshop. These students, many of whom are preparing to become frontline mental health professionals, en…
Families Together of Orange County
California
Families Together of Orange County
California
For this story I wanted to capture my work with clients in individual therapy.  I have been meeting with this client for over a year now. She has complex PTSD and is attending therapy for the first time in her  life. I wanted to incorporate art in…
Shelter from the Storm
California
Shelter from the Storm
California
Ksenia fled a domestic violence situation with her spouse and has been on a journey of building herself up and finding herself and her voice again, as in her relationship she was very controlled. She is also doing work to find her place in the U.S. a…
Para Los Niños
California
Para Los Niños
California
As the new school year began, a group of school social workers and case managers gathered together after returning from summer break. These team members provide vital social-emotional support for students in grades TK–8 and spend much of their time h…
Just Detention International
California
Just Detention International
California
This "Uplifting Voices: Facilitator Stories" video features Linda McFarlane, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Executive Director of Just Detention International. In this video, Linda shares about her experience as a Windows Facilitator and the pow…
Richstone Family Center
California
Richstone Family Center
California
This "Uplifting Voices: Facilitator Stories" video features Jaymie Miller, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne, California. In this video, Jaymie shares about her work as a Windows Facilitator and how she us…
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
The Artistry Circle
North Carolina
Window to My Soul was a workshop centered on self-reflection through the lens of language, community, and creativity. In the days leading up to the event, participants were encouraged to engage in a gentle self-inquiry: bringing one word that best…
Turningpoint for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence
Wisconsin
Turningpoint for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence
Wisconsin
I created an activity called Reclaiming Your Voice Sunbeams, as a durational art activity for my Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault support group. With this project I invite survivor support group attendees to identify words and phrases they never g…
The Adult Skills Center
California
The Adult Skills Center
California
I facilitated the Community Agreements art workshop for a group of individuals aged 30–57 with developmental, intellectual, and mental health needs. The participants shared the common experience of overcoming hurdles in order to integrate into their …
Nora
California
Nora
California
I, like my colleagues, went into this field serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault because I have had experiences similar to our clients and have had the opportunity to heal and receive support. So I know from experience that we of…

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