Meet Lauren. As the current intern at Catherine's House, she has the opportunity to both give and receive through her work with the women and children in residence.
Lauren is a graduate school student at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Working for her masters in Social Work, she is required to perform two years of service at two different locations in order to gain experience in the field. The process to do so is regulated by the school and geared towards individual preference of placement.
Interested in working with women, Lauren was given a narrow list of six potential places for her internship. She had to label her top choices and Catherine's House immediately caught her eye.
"I thought it would be a really cool place to be. When I called to inquire about the internship, they said 'We might be able to use one of those around here'" said Lauren.
Even though she is at the House only two days a week, those days are packed. I was in awe at the amount of responsibilites she has been given. Her tasks include a research study, program evaluation and intitial screenings and second interviews with potential residents. And, of course, the Children's Program which I mentioned in the last post (To read the last post, click here).
Her efforts in the Children's Program is truly admirable. It used to be offered a few years ago, but the modified program has only run for about a month now. Given the demographics of the children in residence (the majority are over ten years old), Lauren had to rethink the entire program. This is where her personal gifts have created, literally, a world of difference.
During her undergraduate years at Appalacian State, Lauren acquired a minor in art. She finds art therapy to be particularly interesting and has put those skills to use. For the past few weeks, the kids have been doing different art projects (like the clay moldings) to help get their creative juices flowing while simultaneously learning more about themselves.
For example, two weeks ago the kids did a timeline of their present and past. Using pictures and words cut out from magzines and drawings, they glued down all the moments of impact in their lives. When they were born, when their favorite moment was, when they moved into Catherine's House, etc. Then last week, they did a timeline of their future. Lauren presented questions like: What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to live? How are you going to achieve those goals? After the timelines were finished, she had them look at both timelines to see the good and the bad in the past. But more importantly, to see that the past is separate to who they want to be and to put them in control of their future.
How great is that? For children who have been through much more than I can imagine, showing them the possibilites of a bright future is unequivocal.
"Seeing their creativity, even though they don't think they have any, is one of the best parts of my job. Seeing them proud of what they have created...well...it's a good feeling," said Lauren.
If you would like to learn more about Art Therapy click here. I think it is absolutely brilliant of Lauren to apply some of these skills when working with the girls, and she is certainly putting God's gifts to the highest use possible.
God Bless,
Megan
that's incredible.
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