In my last post, I shared some startling insights from the interviews I had with several high school students in Lajas, Puerto Rico. Many of them expressed a hopelessness that affected me deeply. But, what could I possibly do to address their pain? I did not have the privilege afforded to school counselors, nor the professional training of a psychologist, nor the authority of a parent. So, what was I to do with all the obvious cries for help? For the serious cases of cutting or potential self-harm, I had the moral obligation to inform a counselor or school authority. But for the less critical but still hurtful complaints of “nobody pays any attention to me,” or “I feel so alone,” I could do something. I could give them hope and support through the development of a creative family.
Here’s some of the members of our family, having fun with music.
Research shows that being creative can improve well-being by increasing positive emotions and decreasing negative ones. It shows that creativity can reduce depression, stress and anxiety, and improve our ability to express difficult emotions such as grief and sadness.
Lauren Monroe Allen, co-founder of the Raven Drum Foundation and Project Resiliency, has written a great article on Creativity and Healing (https://project-resiliency.org/creativity-and-healing/). I’d like to share some of her thoughts with you. Lauren says, “There are days we can be in our suffering and be in our pain. There are days we can push against it, resist it, and despise it. But when the day comes where we can redefine it, this is the day we can begin to be free of it.”
Above are Eva and Tashlayn, two of our artists.
With healing in mind for these beautiful students, I started what we came to refer to as our “creative family.” And through this family, the students and I redefined our pain. We started meeting after school, and over the summer, working on creative projects. The memories we built were life changing. Here is Ricardo, sharing how he felt about our group.
Paraphrasing what Lauren says, “Every day, moment to moment, we are making choices. We can choose to stay in our suffering, or we can create a new moment, a new memory, and a new, more positive future direction. We can transform our suffering through art, through music, film making, photography and poetry. We can transform through writing and sharing our words, through the creative force of kindness and the great power of loving others.”
Our family comforts one of its members, who just said goodbye to her father. He was returning home to the States to be with his other family.
Creativity brings healing. Engagement. Hope. I saw the transformation in the lives of these students. It was a valuable lesson. I didn’t help them because I was a writer. Or a mother figure. Or a sympathetic ear. But I could inspire them to transform perceived powerlessness into renewed confidence.
“When the feelings of helplessness arrive, CREATE. It’s one of the greatest human gifts we have.” –Lauren Monroe Allen
For more pictures of our creative family, see our Pinterest board
“As my sufferings mounted, I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” –Martin Luther King Jr.
