ROSEAU, Dominica — Eight women have become Dominica’s first “Peaced Together” trainers after successfully completing Lifeline Ministries’ intensive weekend course at the Holy Redeemer Retreat House in Eggleston.
“Peaced Together” is based on a unique, creative and effective group therapy approach that promotes emotional healing through craft and journaling, helping people put the broken pieces of their lives together.
The course, the first of its kind in Dominica, was organised by Lifeline Ministries and conducted by Julia Tizzard of the “Peaced Together” movement in the United Kingdom which recently won a gold award for ‘best replicable project’ at the Christian Funders Forum awards for 2016. Both ‘Peaced Together’ and Lifeline Ministries are part of Lifeline Network International http://www.lifelinenetwork.org/
The inaugural course, held on the weekend of November 18-20th 2016, produced Dominica’s first batch of “Peaced Together” trainers who are now equipped to train others through 10-week courses of one two-hour session a week.
Mrs. Tizzard said the “Peaced Together” concept is the brainchild of Briton, Heidi Singleton, who became emotionally distraught after ending up in a wheelchair following the birth of her third child.
Singleton’s disability made taking care of her newborn so challenging that she reached a point where she wanted to give up on everything. “Then things just turned around for her. . .” Tizzard said, adding, “She recognised that she herself could make choices about how she dealt with her difficult circumstances.”
During her distress, Singleton remembered that she had always been creative and she made a pivotal decision to stop mulling over her problems and focus on indulging her creative nature.
“As she used scraps of fabric to start to make quilts, she began to see . . . that’s like life! . . . full of bits we like and bits we don’t like . . . put them together, you actually end up with something beautiful!”
Singleton’s breakthrough concept is explained in detail on the “Peaced Together” movement’s website, which states: “We believe that good can come from negative and difficult experiences. . .”
“It can be tempting to discard these parts of our lives as useless, but brokenness can be transformed into beauty as we let our experiences influence our creative expression.”
“Talking about and coming to terms with the painful parts of our lives can be therapeutic, enabling us to move on and look to the future.”
Mrs Singleton realised that sharing her transformational initiative would bring hope and courage to others who had suffered abuse, isolation and depression.
Tizzard explained that the “Peaced Together” sessions involve healing discussions around the craft table as participants work with their hands making cushions, picture frames, paintings and more.
“Not only are we talking about things while we are doing the crafts, but the crafts themselves show something about the concepts we are covering in that session,” she said.
For instance, when participants use broken china and wall tiles to create a mosaic, this gives them an opportunity to reflect on and speak about brokenness.
To augment the craft sessions, each participant is given a scrapbook journal to fill with personal jottings and treasures, which helps them to reflect on and personalize what is going on.
“When you look at the things we are covering, everyone can get something out of the sessions,” Tizzard said, adding that simply creating a craft item can make a life-changing difference. “Some people have been put down all their lives and don’t think they can do anything. But sitting there and producing a painting you are pleased with can just lift your heart. . ..
“You think, “Yes, actually I can do something,” and that makes a whole lot of difference to how you move forward. . . even if it’s that one thing that makes a difference, then it’s worth it.”
“Peaced Together” sessions cover uplifting topics like hope, courage, love, and self-control. It is faith based but not exclusively for Christians. “It all depends who you have in the group”
Director of Lifeline Ministries, Tina Alexander said the “Peaced Together” training is financed by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives. She explained that it follows an earlier project funded by the same donor, which was implemented in collaboration with the Dominica National Council of Women to establish a help line and support groups for women who are survivors of gender based violence.
Mrs. Alexander, a qualified counsellor for over 10 years in Dominica, remarked that it is not traditional for Dominicans to commit to counseling as a long term mental health promotion strategy; often counseling is only made use of in emergencies and crises.
“So we are planning to have these groups where people are doing craft and talking at the same time, providing a safe place for people to explore their stories,” Alexander said. “We actually hope to create a magazine of anonymous testimonies from those looking back on their journey and would be pleased to hear from survivors wanting to share.”
She explained that she decided to introduce “Peaced Together” here because she has observed that women enjoy being active as they talk about matters personal to them.
Alexander pointed out that one benefit of the course is that it can help women to revisit and deal with troubling memories by associating those memories with objects.
She recalled a case in which a rape victim had kept the dress she had been wearing at the time of the crime at the bottom of her closet. Women could bring such things to a “Peaced Together” course and rip it up for her rag weaving craft piece, an action that could prove to be cathartic.
Alexander said it is important for people to understand that “Peaced Together” is not a simply a craft programme and there is no pressure on participants to produce perfect craft.
There is so much one could say about this program I don’t know where to start.
Any craft that gets people’s minds off their problems and working with their hands is commendable. Working and talking in a group is both enjoyable and useful when they are producing practical goods for the benefit of others. The value of helping people discover their own worth cannot be over estimated. You are giving them an opportunity to be productive contributors. As they serve others they discover their
own abilities.
I expect you will be hearing success stories from people who have experienced the benefits of PIECED TOGETHER
In fact it is likely to grow bigger than you have anticipated. As the LIFELINE MINISTRIES people invest the time to give creative leadership and they will be surprised.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill.
Second line of my last paragraph….
that should be PEACED together. Sorry
I didn’t realize you had intentionally spelled the word wrong to give it a meaningful twist. My mistake,
not yours.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill.