Summer Archives

Michael Zuch Seattle, WA - First Aid Arts

First Aid Arts is a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington with the mission to equip trauma-care providers with arts-based tools and training. Their curriculum, called the Healing Arts Toolkit, is a compilation of arts-based activities that are informed by the expressive arts and movement therapies, and was initially developed to meet the needs of survivors of sexual exploitation. My summer project was to develop adaptations to the curriculum in order to more adequately meet the needs of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons. The primary tasks were to write a literature review, compile an advisory group of experts in refugee mental health, propose adaptations to the Healing Arts Toolkit, write a Cultural Adaptation Guide for facilitators, and make plans for future piloting and evaluation.