Art heals.

My HeArtwork journey started many years before I knew that’s what I was doing. I unconsciously used my art as a means to express all the things I couldn’t say with words. Although I write as a way to process my thoughts, art was often a way to better articulate those thoughts. Words felt limiting and definite. Words felt like they needed to know exactly what they were to be written or spoken. Art on the other hand, expressed the more abstract sides of my inner landscapes. I didn’t have to know just how to say it. I could find an image that expressed something deeper, that I was still trying to understand myself.

And so HeArtwork came to be. Later it was given its name and identity. And recently it’s been given a platform to spread its healing beyond myself. Affinity Counseling Services once again opened its doors and hosted our second HeArtwork Gallery. This time the HeArtwork was not only my own, but it featured the art of 3 other local artists. 

Affinity Counseling Services has been a long time advocate of the benefits of therapeutic art. And the research supports their reasoning. Visual and creative arts promote positive brain changes. Artistic outlets give people the ability to process out things they might not be able to communicate with words. This gives access to deep healing that might not otherwise be accessible. People who have serious depression or PTSD often struggle to speak the things that are causing their pain. Creative mediums give people a tool to start the healing process in a significant way. 

Our 3 artists have used art as a way to create their own positive coping skills. While their reasons for using it may be varied, the outcome is the same: when the creation process is complete, there is a feeling of relief and pride. Relief in the letting go of something that is hard to hold. And pride in seeing that expression outside of our bodies, and translated in the medium of our choosing. 

.Click below to check out the artists from our 2nd HeArtwork Gallery.