My Permission Canvas represents permission to turn obstacles into avenues. 

When we see a stop sign, we stop. When we see a red light, we stop. When we see a “Do not” symbol, we don’t do whatever the symbol indicates that we should not do. When we face barriers, those barriers often reinforce the notion that we can’t do certain things. 

Due to financial constraints, I chose to go from a career in art to becoming a therapist. The fact that I put so much time into my artwork, but couldn’t generate enough income without working for other artists led to a soul crushing experience for me. I felt as though I was a failure. 

Now I give myself permission to see that the financial barriers I faced have led me to a new career path, and that I can integrate art into the wellness and recovery efforts I do as a peer specialist. This is my way of transforming a barrier into a new path.

I work at Parent Support Network of Rhode Island (RI), in our new center in Scituate RI as part of a rural school mental health initiative. Due to the stigma of mental health, many people in this community do not actively seek out mental health services. There is pride in being self-sufficient. Many of the families we work with have been referred to us due to truancy. What we have found is that in every case, there are underlying needs contributing to the truancy. It has been very difficult to establish trusting relationships with many of our families. 

One of the things that became apparent early on, was that many of the children enjoy art activities. To better connect to our community, I decided to start a teen art group and just today, I started a group for younger children. By participating in the AWBW training that is empirically backed, we are able to make a stronger case for offering art classes, which could potentially lead to greater capacity building in our community as well as additional funding sources. We also now have a framework that can be extended to our other centers and staff, as we incorporate more art activities into our wellness program.

Words to go with my art are: Transformation, Creation, and Purpose

I want to extend my thanks for being able to participate in this training. Connection within a culture is so important to wellbeing. The training brought together a culture of artists and other professionals who all believe in the healing power of art. There is a power in the connection; Just knowing how many other people are out there on this mission is a source of strength.”