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Table of Contents

iolence and trauma, this zine was created

While this zine s a resource for people who need healing
specifically for incarcerated survivors of police violence

from any ty]

Introduction-3
Safe Space-4
Drawing a Breath-6
Mandala’s-8
Protective Container-10
Monsters-12
Paving the Way-14

The Chicago Torture Justice Center (CT)C) isa community center for Chicago police torture
survivors and anyone who has experienced police violence, directly or indirectly. CTIC was
established as a result of a historic Reparations Ordinance passed by the Chicago City Councilin
May 2015 and serves survivors of police torture, their family members, and community members.
CTICisthe first community center in the United States that provides specialized trauma services
tothose tortured by law enforcement officers within the country. We are a part of and supporta
movement to end all forms of police violence. Our support is rooted in what we call “politicized
healing” Politicized healingis the belief that our healing s political and our politics are healing.
Politicized healing addresses the harm—felt by individuals and communities—caused by
historic and evolving systems of oppression. It reminds us that surviving and healing as

individuals is also healing to our communities and the world we would like to see flourish.

WHAT IS ART THERAPY?

Arttherapy is used to help individuals to verbalize their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Especially while

ncarcerated you may not be able to express your thoughts and feelings verbally in a safe way. Art and writing

can help youtostill express it and get those emotions outside of your mind and body. It also can provide an
alternative place to focus attention and new practices that can serve as support.

Art therapy is not about making an objectively good piece of art. Focus less on the result and more on the process. Itis
about the mental and emotional experience rather than the result. You can have a more healing experience drawing
like a 6-year old than by creating a masterpiece, art therapy is about engagingn the process fully.

Each of these directives has different purposes. Some are calming practices, some require deeper
engagement. Pay attention to yourselfand what you need. If you are constantly feeling high levels of
emotions, it may be more helpful for you to engage in calming practices rather than the ones that may
trigger more emotions. These directives are not a substitute for having your own therapist or engaging in
counseling, but rather a tool to help support you navigate your emotions

All of these directives are created to be able to be completed with a pencil and paper, but f you have access to
more materials, feel free to alter the assignment to work with the art supplies you have. This zine s created

to bea setof guidelines to getyou started on using art for healing, but you are the only one that knows what
you need. Feel free to use this as a jumping-off point for your own creativity and create whatever feels best

SAFE SPACE

Having a place that feels safe and that you can retreat to when things get tough is important,
butisn't always physically possible. A helpful alternative is creating a safe space in your mind
thatyou can go to when fear, panic, or traumatic memories become overwhelming. Havinga

mental safe place can help you to cope with stress and increase your sense of safety.

As you begin, try and think about a location where you have felt safe at some time in your life or
imagine a new place that would be safe foryou. Think about what smells, sights, feelings, and:
sounds you would experience in your safe place. Think about if it would be inside o outside.
You can work off of a space that you already have experienced or create an entirely new

imaginative space.

When you are ready, begin to draw what your safe place would look like. Who would be there?
What objects would be there (furniture, activities, comforts etc.) How do you enter and leave
the room? s there a way to secure it from unwanted people or things? Think about the details

and what makes those specific details feel safe to you

Afteryou are done creating your space on paper, practice visualizing the image in your mind’s
eye. Create a plan for how you would enter the space, would it be a room at the top of a set of
stairs, would you have to climb up a hill? Practice entering and leaving your safe space in your
imagination so that when your feelings or surroundings become overwhelmingyou have a

place to retreat to.
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DRAWING A

BREATH

Breathing is a natural action that we do without thinking every day. However, when we are in

distress we may begin to breathe rapidly or shallowly, which only serves to increase our
anxiety. Conscious breathing that is slow and deep when we are feeling distressed can reduce
our distress by releasing muscular and emotional tension. Focusing on breathing can also shift
your attention away from flashbacks or unhelpful thinking and bring your focus back to the

present reality.

When you are ready to begin, take a piece of paper, and while you are inhaling and exhaling
pay attention to the rhythm, depth, and sounds of your breathing. Draw a line that has similar
qualities to your breath. Think about if the lines should be long or short; curved or angular;
quick or slow; light or heavy pressure; dashed or solid line. After doing this for a couple of
minutes with your normal breathing, focus on changing your breathing to being slower and
more controlled. You can try saying something silently to yourself like “breath in calm, exhale

tension” if it helps you.

Draw your new pattern of breathing on the other side of the paper for a couple of minutes. Pay
attention to the depth and length of your calming breaths. After you are done, compare the
two drawings. Do you notice any differences? Do you notice any differences in your stress levels
after changing your breathing pattern? This can be used just once as a reminder to work on
controlling your breathing, or you can use this directive as a coping skill when you are
experiencing anxiety or heightened stress levels and you can draw your breathing in order to

help you calm down.
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17
MANDALAS

Mandala is a Sanskrit word that means circle and is a symbol that is a part of spiritual and
religious practices in Hinduism and Buddhism. Itis a set of designs in a circular pattern like
pictured below. The circle is a representation of wholeness and unity and creating within a
circular pattern helps to bring a sense of calmness. Drawing a mandala can be a practice in
mindfulness meditation as well as a calming practice when anxiety or other emotions get
overwhelming. The mandalas below are examples of what they can look like. Feel free to try to
recreate one of these or design a new one. When creating a mandala, start withacirclein the
middle of your paper and draw repeating geometric patterns around it layer by layer. Itis

common to make petal, leaf, or triangle shapes and fill in those shapes with more geometric

patterns. Have fun with it and challenge yourself to try different designs as you go!

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PROTECTIVE

CONTAINER

When negative feelings or thoughts become overwhelming or when we are unprepared to deal
with them, it can lead to harmful behavior or destructive thoughts. One strategy for guarding
against this is called containment, which is the ability to store overwhelming information,
images, or feelings for exploration at a later date when they will no longer cause you high
levels of distress or trigger harmful behaviors. This art directive is to help you create an image

of the container to temporarily store the intrusive thoughts and feelings.

This container is only meant to temporarily store these emotions because at some point they
have to be confronted in order to experience healing. If we try to continually stuff our pain and
hurt down it will come up in unexpected ways and during unexpected times. The goal isn’t to
hide the emotions or to never explore them, but it is to store them until we have better coping

mechanisms, are ina better mental space, or are in a safer environment to explore them.

Before you start drawing, spend some time considering the features that you want your container to
be. Imagine its shape, how it works, and where it is located. Some examples are a chained trunk
located under the sea, a locked room at the end of a long corridor, or a filing cabinet in a vault. The

container should be able to be securely closed butalso re-opened by youwhen you are ready,

‘When you are ready you can draw your container and the surrounding location that it is in.
Afteritis complete, spend some time imagining what the process of putting a thought,
eemotion, or memory in it would look like. Imagine how you would get to the container, openiit,
put a thought or memory in the container, close it, and walk away. You can use this container
every time you need one, oryou can use this directive every time you have something you need
to contain and add another container for each thought, memory, or emotion needing to be

addressed later.
110
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MONSTERS

Weall face problems in our lives, but oftentimes our problems are different from other peoples
around us. Not only that, but we experience the same problem in different ways than other
people. In this directive we are going to think about the characteristics of our problems and
turn those characteristics into a monster. This is a chance to think more about our problems

and understand them on a deeper level as well as use a little humor in the process.

An example of what this would look like is if | was to say that my problem was anger. |
experience anger as something small but always present until it explodes, so | might draw two
separate monsters to represent my anger in different situations. Or | might draw a small
innocent looking monster with big scary teeth, because my anger israre and when it does come

out it takes me off guard because | am used to myanger hiding behind other emotions.

Take time to draw out a problem you struggle with asa monster, think about the size, shape,
and characteristics of your monster and how that represents your problem. After you finish,
take some time to think about what tool you would use to fight offyour monster and draw

yourself with that tool in hand ready to fight the monster.

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PAVING THE
WAY

After surviving trauma, itis common to feel more vulnerable and fragile. However, despite feeling
that way, you still have inner strength and skills that are essential to your healing and restoration
of well-being. It is easy to become discouraged when thinking aboutall of what you have lost due
totrauma, but this projectis to highlight what youstill have inside of you to help you onyour

journey.

Some examples of strengths thatyou might have are determination, will, faith, courage,
responsibility, creativity, resilience, and open-mindedness. Take time to really think about what
your strengths are, acknowledging that the trauma may have lessened the prevalence of some
strengths while it heightened others. If you are having trouble thinking of your strengths, you can
reach out to anyone who interacts with you often and see if they have any insight. Friends and
family can be a great starting point. Itis also helpful to think about what things come easy to you,

whatyou enjoy, and whatare you doing when time moves fastest!

On your paper you are going to draw a stone path, it can be winding, straight, spiral, ora maze.
This is your metaphorical pathway to healing. In each of the stones in your path write out one of
your strengths that will help you on your journey. After you have listed all of the strengths you can
think of, take time to fillin the other stones with the other people, truths, or supports that will
helpyou to heal. Afteryou have filled the stones with words, take some time to draw a landscape
around the stones. Think about what the landscape looks like at the beginning of your healing

journey versus what it would look like when you are healed.

Afteryou have completed your artwork, you can refer to it when you are feeling stuck or frustrated
onyour healing path. It can remind you of the strength and support thatyou have around you and

help you dentify whatyou need to utilize in order to continue on your journey of healing.

14
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Written and Designed
by Shalom Parker

Sharing Your Art

You have completed this zine/workbook on art for healing! You can come back to
these exercises anytime you want and repeat what works best foryou. If you want
toshare yourart, we would love to see it and engage in correspondence with you!
Sendittousat:
Chicago Torture Justice Center
Attn: Shalom Parker
6337 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637

We would like to thank the following resources and people who helped inform this
zine/workbook:

« Managing Traumatic Stress Through Art, written by Barry M. Cohen, Mary-Michola Barnes,
and Anita B. Rankin
Grieving is Healing: Reflections and Practices for Politicized Grief, written and curated by
Annabeth Roeschley, designed and illustrated by Peregrine Bermas

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