Youth Telling Their Stories through Artwork
Gratiot County – Spring is the time of growth and beauty, which is the perfect backdrop for Child Advocacy’s Telling Their Story Art Exhibit. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Gratiot County, Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC), and the Gratiot County Substance Abuse Coalition (GCSAC) joined forces to put on an amazing art show that involves children using art to express their feelings and emotions. Painting is a self-soothing experience that can facilitate the ability to verbalize feelings and encourage the expression of traumatic events assisting an adolescent with Telling Their Story.
CASA is a group of specially trained volunteers and professionals that advocate for children involved in abuse and neglect cases. Children who have a CASA paint canvasses to express their feelings and share their experience. Each child’s canvas sends a powerful message about the effects of abuse and neglect. These paintings expand the depth of the relationship between the CASA and the child.
The CAC provides direct intervention services for children/youth and their families when there is a possibility of child abuse, neglect, exposure to methamphetamine production, or witness to significant violence. One such intervention is art therapy programming for high school and middle school teens. Trauma-Focused Therapy techniques are used in order to help the youth better understand the impact traumatic experiences have on mental, behavioral, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.
GCSAC is a countywide collaborative decision-making body of community members that address issues of substance abuse prevention in Gratiot County. The Coalition is collaborating with area schools to provide an Above the Influence campaign to youth with the goal of helping teens stand up to negative pressures and influences. One component of the campaign is to have students create their own visual expressions of the Above the Influence symbol. This activity allows the students an opportunity to decide what is important to them and what it really means to live Above the Influence.
We invite the community to support youth who are Telling Their Stories by attending our opening reception on May 2, 2022 from 6pm – 7pm at the Alma Community Art Center located at 213 East Superior Street. The show will remain on display at the Art Center until May 20, 2022 where you can view artwork Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11am – 4pm. For more information, please call Child Advocacy at (989) 463-1422.
Special thanks to the Alma Community Art Center for their collaboration on this project.
Michelle Zombeck
CASA Program Director
