Hello everyone! I hope that this finds you well. My name is Evey and I am one of the three interns from the Lesley Graduate Expressive Therapies Program at Emmanuel this year. I feel very honored and privileged to have the opportunity to become part of this community. I am looking forward to getting to know  you better!  My three clinical assignments are programs that you help make happen: Common Art, Café Emmanuel, and Pam Werntz’s Art & Spirituality prison ministry program.

I feel very blessed to have been so warmly welcomed thus far. Each and every person that I have met has been incredibly friendly. This includes the people that I have worked with at common art. It really moved me that I was not able to tell the difference between the people who are housed and people who are not housed. It was not until community members bravely shared their stories with me that I could tell who was who, and by that point, it didn’t matter. I was so very humbled and reminded that at the end of the day, we are all human. It does not matter where we have been or what we have done. Human connection is what matters most in life, and I was so glad to see that that there was such a sense of community and understanding at Common Art. Everyone there had so much that they could be worried about, but I did not hear any complaints. I only heard people supporting one another and being positive. I saw people who were still only marginally housed helping those who were not housed. I saw people making and serving food, and not just any old food, but sustainable, hearty, and healthy food. I witnessed care, both for the self and for others. What I saw was more beautiful than the lovely art people made. They painted a picture just by being who they were.

At Café Emmanuel, I saw the exact same thing. I was immediately welcomed and invited to join the kind men there. There was a tangible feeling of love and support in the air. Everyone was so grateful to be there, as was I. The interns shared our hopes of including elements of therapeutic art, dance, writing, drama, and music with the group, and they responded enthusiastically. Several men had ideas themselves, and talked to us about them long after the program finished. This level of passion and excitement for the arts is exhilarating.

Reaching out to the women at the Suffolk County House of Correction has been extraordinary as well. I was rather nervous the first time that we went, but I now see how much gratitude the women have for us. It makes such a difference in someone’s life when a bleak day can end on such a high note. I could sense that the Arts and Spirituality session was a getaway for them, where they left feeling a little more empowered then when they came in. There’s something extremely therapeutic about coloring and expressing oneself on paper. I feel lucky to have the chance to witness this process.

I am very excited about the year to come. If this first week was any indication of how incredible this journey will be with Emmanuel Church, I cannot wait to dig in and get more involved. Thank you for welcoming us, and I hope you have a lovely week.

Warm blessings,
Evey