Pictured: Habitat for Heroes staff: Bridgette Mills, Pam Braly, Donna Deutchman, and Stacey Chiang

In 2013 A Window Between Worlds began a collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys to offer art-making as a tool for reintegration and addressing trauma for returning combat veterans and their families.

In the words of CEO Donna Deutchman, Habitat partnered with AWBW because “The art becomes a connection between the unexplainable, and sometimes even the unspeakable. A Window Between Worlds has been selected as a ‘best practice’ and core required program in a new model to address the needs of veterans throughout the State of California.

“When I started working for Habitat Humanity,” Deutchman says, “I was looking for the most effective therapeutic model for veterans, one that was self directed and peer led. When I found A Window Between Worlds I knew I didn’t have to look any further. It is this model that creates safety, meets our veterans where they are at, and allows them to be vulnerable and open up about things they wouldn’t ordinarily share. AWBW has a proven record and we at Habitat for Humanity have selected it because we know it works. I myself have witnessed firsthand the transformational effect that even one art workshop has on our veterans. 

“Take the case of Byron R., a US Navy veteran serving in the Reserves who now owns a home and participated in AWBW through Habitat. This Chatsworth veteran noted that ‘Every returning service member goes through a readjustment period.’ About AWBW he told us, ‘At first I thought it [creating art] was a little weird…then a simple project about talking heads got to some intense anger about my father who wants to be in my life for the first time, now after being absent for so long.’ Byron has been considering this art and keeps it and other AWBW projects on his office desk at the Vet Center. He feels that ‘Once I get over the anger, maybe we can have some kind of relationship.’

Another veteran, a female Army Nurse from the Vietnam era, only recently began talking about the military sexual trauma she experienced during her service. At Habitat’s annual Women’s Build, she shared this long-held secret with the 300 women in attendance and said, ‘Habitat’s Enriched Neighborhood™ and its art program (AWBW) have not only changed my life; they have given me life.’”

AWBW is honored to play a vital role in Habitat’s efforts to bring veterans together, reintegrate them with their families, address issues of PTSD and military sexual trauma, and emerge as stronger, more hopeful, more empowered members of our community.