I co-facilitate a group called Healthy Relationships for residents of Yale Navigation Center, a 24 hour shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Santa Ana. While at Yale, residents are provided with resources to help in the transition to permanent housing and support them by addressing the challenges/barriers they encounter. For many of them this includes a history of child abuse, domestic violence, and severe mental illness. Families Together of Orange County provides Yale residents with behavioral healthcare and medical care through our mobile unit which visits Yale weekly. We also provide residents with an hour of self care and relaxation through art. 

The topic of this particular group was gratitude and my co-facilitator and I set up all the supplies for the residents to have available (self led handouts, mandalas, coloring pages, snacks). Participants were excited for the activity and happy to have their own set of supplies. We reviewed our community agreements created at the beginning of the year. I discussed the benefits of gratitude and provided residents with a handout for continued reading.

Participants were then invited to create their own Gratitude Tin to hold all the things they were grateful for. Participants mentioned being grateful for their health, their bed, and for the workshop. One participant mentioned not engaging in art in their life until they attended our group and expressed interest in continuing to attend weekly. 

At the end we opened up the floor for group discussion and sharing. It is always amazing to see everyone’s creations, but most importantly I hear residents mention they feel relaxed after attending our group. One participant (pictured here) wanted us to take a picture of them with their artwork.

As we were leaving I noticed the AWBW coping skills handout on the wall at the center. It made me smile to see that AWBW is very much present in the lives of the Yale residents.