At OhioGuidestone, Creative Collaborative is a weekly offering that engages youth in a variety of art activities, allowing youth to find self-expression and emotional regulation through creativity. The age range of youth in residential treatment at this site can be anywhere from six to seventeen years old. Some youth may be in foster care and all youth are receiving services for mental and behavioral health. The instructors for this programming offer a trauma-informed approach that aligns with the CASEL framework and prioritizes connection, belonging, voice, and choice.
Fostering Hope’s visiting artist, Debbie Phelan, is a Certified Zentangle Teacher. Miss Debbie spent four weeks with youth at OhioGuidestone teaching the principles of Zentangle. Zentangle beautifully blends mindful and meditative practices with creativity. It is a wonderful practice for youth who have experienced trauma and are healing because the practice of Zentangle is very forgiving and mistakes should be seen as opportunities to problem solve creatively. Zentangle allows for beauty to be found within imperfections and is accessible to any person who wishes to create a Zentangle.
Youth at OhioGuidestone enjoyed connecting with Miss Debbie, and staff at both Fostering Hope and OhioGuidestone saw students’ ability to understand Zentangle increase throughout their four weeks with Miss Debbie as well as their ability to embrace the imperfections within their Zentangle. A youth who spent forty minutes working in Miss Debbie’s group on Zentangle stated that he felt “calm” at the end of class. Another youth who wanted to use a ruler to create perfectly straight lines on her first Zentangle felt proud of the purposely curving and imperfect lines on the Zentangle she created during her final session.
The materials used during the Zentangle series offered by Fostering Hope were Zentangle Apprentice tiles, Zentangle pencils, Zentangle pens, Black markers, and tortillons. However at the end of the day, this is an artistic medium that youth can file away in their creativity and self regulation tool boxes because the truth is that they can create a Zentangle with as little as a paper and pencil.
Zentangle was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
The Zentangles featured in restorARTive gallery boxes were created by youth at OhioGuidestone residential treatment through the Creative Collaborative program offered by Fostering Hope. Fostering Hope is a local non-profit whose mission is to enrich the lives of youth in foster care and residential treatment across Northeast Ohio.
Fostering Hope’s work is on view in all five restorartive boxes, Sept 1st - Oct 7th
2418 Professor Ave
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Professor Ave
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