Liz, our Program Assistant at TFD, visited Proviso East High School’s Calm Room to put together an activity for the students. Loyola Medicine designed the Calm Room for students to visit during lunchtime as an alternative. Here, students can have an intentionally safe place.
This week, Liz brought painting supplies designed by Dana of I Paint on Purpose for the students to get creative!
Over the last two weeks, the team and community members were invited to restorative justice training. Specifically, Andrew Hong of We Each Belong, trained the team in how to lead healing circles, which is a native practice built on restorative justice. Over 4 days, the team got to know each other on a deeper level, creating a circle, and then started to dream what their own independent circles would look like in the future.
We see how impactful circles can be for our community members. This practice was built on the idea that healing can be achieved through conversation, but most importantly, listening. We can’t wait to see how circle will grow in the Proviso community!
Thank you, Andrew, for creating a safe environment for the team! We appreciate your wisdom and kindness.
This week, we held an art therapy workshop with Yekseny Guerrero of Leyden Family Services. The session focused on how we can build esteem by amplifying our creativity. TFD and Yekseny believe that everyone is a creative in their own unique way! Our Proviso neighbors showed up and did just that. The clay was intentionally placed out with colors and tools to help the participants make something they believed represented them but as a vessel to remind them of their own self-confidence.
Thank you Yekseny for leading an amazing workshop! We are so grateful to those who participated. Join us for another art therapy with Yekseny November 6th from 6:30PM to 8PM where participants will create Identity Collages!
The TFD Team visited Proviso West High School to give away more mental health kits! This was our second giveaway for the fall semester. We are so excited to give away kits to new and returning students. Overall, we gave away 107 kits to Proviso West students. Our running number is 2,290 kits given away to Proviso students!
This week, we visited PMSA to hand out more mental health kits. TFD wanted to bring a bright start to the new school year and honor National Suicide Prevention Month this September. The Proviso community has suffered from multiple youth losses due to suicide. Moreover, these kits were inspired to create healthy coping skills for young adults with the intention of promoting mental well-being.
This month is very important for us and the Mental Health Kits. We are so glad to provide 226 kits to PMSA students this Wednesday! Our running total is 2,183 kits given away. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!
