Lissa is an AWBW facilitator who works at Insight Human Services Women’s Recovery Center in North Carolina. She holds a weekly art group with women who are often mandated by the court or the Department of Social Services to participate in substance use treatment.

She says, “The unpleasantness of being forced to participate sometimes expresses itself in exhaustion, frustration, and lack of interest. It is exciting to see how offering choices for community engagement and self-expression can change this dynamic into one of enthusiasm, hope, and active participation.”

“The empowering philosophy and mission of AWBW really resonates with my group and they appreciate being taken seriously as artists and as humans deserving of time, space, materials, and autonomy.”
–Lissa, AWBW Facilitator

By participating in AWBW art workshops these women are able to face trauma and pain they may not even have been aware of as contributing to their addiction:

“Through making art, these women come to understand and express that they are still grieving a miscarriage, or mourning a friend who died too young, or enraged about childhood abuse, or appalled by local politics. All of these subtle themes emerge in the open window of art-making time, and often the women themselves are surprised by it. I have watched women for whom addiction was the solution to a much deeper pain begin to approach that deep pain through art. Pain too deep to face in words emerges in color and shape and line. And then addiction as a coping mechanism falls away.”

Lissa had been holding art groups previously at Insight; however, through her training, consultations, access to curriculum and art supply funding from AWBW she has gained more support from her agency and has been able to take the group — and her facilitation — to the next level.

“What I did not anticipate was the way that I, as a facilitator, would become aligned with a community of support, and how that would in turn impact how supported my group participants felt,” she shares. “Belonging to a larger community like AWBW reminds me that art, creativity, and humanity are the CENTER of the work we are doing, not a sideline.”

Lissa is currently organizing Insight’s first exhibition of the artwork created by the women she works with to share their stories with the greater community.