OMA Center for Mind Body Spirit, Art in the Garden
Callie Gropp | Board Member, OMA Center for Mind, Body and Spirit
Watch This Presentation:
Art in the Garden, a program from OMA Center for Mind Body Spirit, focuses on helping children connect with themselves. Callie shared a brave story about how she overcame her own negativity in her life to retrain her body and brain's response to trauma and reconnect with herself. Art in the Garden is designed to address the impacts of early childhood adversity and trauma on health and learning. Compassionate staff work to aid in the emotional development of youth and help them develop resilience. In a supportive environment, children learn to support themselves and view themselves as creators. Art in the Garden is designed to help kids live their fullest expression of themselves and learn to identify their emotions and channel them into creative and self-affirming activities. By learning these skills at such an early age, children are able to use these skills to cope with more challenging situations as they grow.
Additional Resources:
Callie Gropp
Callie Gropp is a board member of OMA Center for Mind, Body and Spirit, the producers of Art in the Garden, a program designed to intentionally address the impacts of early childhood adversity and trauma on health and learning. Art in the Garden 2019 is a free nine-week summer program hosted at Borland Garden and the African Healing Garden. Both gardens are focused on meeting the needs of under-served youth in East Liberty and Larimer neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. Through daily art and environmental activities, youth develop their ability to identify and process emotions and to channel their emotions into creative activities and self-affirming forms of expression. Above all, Art in the Garden seeks to enable youth to grow in their understanding of connectedness to themselves, each other, and our earth. Our programming supports youth knowing — in deep and lasting ways — the interconnectedness of all living beings, and the ways in which we are all whole and all belong.
