About 2 Inspire Peace
Problem:
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, individuals process traumatic events differently, and those who experience traumatic events may or may not experience any lasting, negative effects. Previous life experiences, social supports, personal coping skills, early relational health, and community reactions can influence how an individual responds to a potentially traumatic event. Individuals who experience trauma are at greater risk of developing mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. Particularly among youth, childhood exposure to trauma is associated with increased odds of adult psychiatric and functional outcomes, after adjusting for a broad range of childhood risk factors. Trauma can negatively impact social, economic, and cognitive functioning and emotional regulation, and prolonged exposure to traumatic events in early childhood may interrupt normal brain development. Ignoring or suppressing experiences of trauma, rather than acknowledging and processing the adversity, has a greater negative impact on an individual’s mental health. In response to trauma, some individuals may adopt maladaptive coping mechanisms such as unhealthy eating or self-harm. In particular, there is a strong link between trauma and alcohol/substance use, death by overdose, and suicide.
Needs:
Individuals with good mental health experience a positive quality of life and are able to effectively navigate various aspects of their lives, including home, school, work, and community interactions. Coping with daily challenges is essential for everyone. Mental disorders are characterized by significant alterations in a person's typical functioning, behavior, or emotional regulation, leading to distress and difficulties in daily functioning.
Goals:
Social Emotional Arts: Assist individuals to identify and process emotions by providing safe opportunities to practice decision-making. When creating art together, we invest in the outcome. The arts motivate individuals to practice relationship skills in an authentic way; foster positive social-emotional development by intentionally sequencing developmental experiences throughout art education processes, talking with individuals about their social and emotional experiences, and providing rich opportunities to reflect on those experiences in a supportive light.
Mental Health: By nurturing emotional resilience, managing stress, fostering social connections, practicing self-care, seeking professional support, nurturing the mind-body connection, and maintaining a positive mindset, we can embark on a journey toward optimal mental well-being.
Restorative Practices: We treat all people as capable of healing and transformation. We believe that harm occurs on both interpersonal and systemic levels and must be addressed on both. We center and champion conditions that invite people to take accountability for harm.
