Luminarias Shine Light on Domestic Abuse and the Healing Power of Art

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COURTESY AMANDA’S EASEL

The exhibit is intended to spread awareness of the needs of children affected by domestic violence and the importance of prevention efforts.

By Gloria Stravelli

RED BANK – You can catch sight of them glowing in shop windows in and around Red Bank, colorful luminarias, or “luminaries” as the exhibit is named, displaying children’s drawings that radiate hope and healing.

Children from the Amanda’s Easel Creative Arts Therapy program designed the luminaries “to shine a light on the needs of children affected by domestic violence and to spread awareness of how prevention efforts can reduce the risk of families being impacted by abuse,” explained Samantha Muccini, program coordinator for Amanda’s Easel.

The luminaries, 72 in all, containing the children’s artwork and battery-operated candles, are displayed throughout the downtown and the West Side.

“The month of April is nationally recognized as Child Abuse Prevention Month,” Muccini said. During this time many organizations spread awareness of children’s needs and the importance of services designed to meet these needs, she said.

The Amanda’s Easel Creative Arts Therapy Program, an initiative of Hazlet-based 180 Turning Lives Around, is focused on healing trauma and empowering children and survivors affected by domestic violence.

“Amanda’s Easel utilizes creative arts therapy – art, music, drama and play therapy – to help children and nonoffending caregivers process and heal from the effects of domestic violence and live more fulfilling lives free from abuse,” she said.

To create the luminary exhibit, Muccini chose a variety of artworks created by children ages 4-14 who have participated in the program in the past.

“Some are very pensive and show some of the things the children have gone through. There is some hurt, but also some happy drawings,” she said. “I took a range from the little ones to the bigger ones and put it together. It’s a mix, they’re colorful.”

The artwork and lights are encased in plastic bags to protect them and weighted down so they won’t blow away and can be seen throughout the borough, she said.

Muccini said members of the Red Bank business community and nonprofits were receptive to displaying the lights to spread awareness and excited to participate.

“The 72 went pretty fast,” she said.

Throughout April, the luminarias can be seen in windows along Broad, White, Monmouth and West Front streets, Reckless Place and Drs. James Parker Boulevard, including at Red Bank RiverCenter, the Red Bank Public Library, the Boys & Girls Club, JBJ Soul Kitchen and The Galleria.

The aim of the exhibit is to make people aware that creative art therapy helps heal children and that it is, in fact, the most effective therapy for that age group, she said.

Muccini said ar t is a “natural expression” for children unable to process their trauma through language. If “they can’t talk about it, they can express their feelings through the art,” she said.

“We also have play therapy, we have drama therapy, music therapy and art. They are all here,” she said, “under the umbrella of Amanda’s Easel.”

Muccini, who has a master’s degree in social work, explained that the art therapy also engages the parent.

“Nonoffending parents attend and participate in a parent art therapy group,” she explained, where “they learn how the domestic violence has affected their parenting.”

“It’s really about increasing communication with the children and helping them process what’s happened in the home,” Muccini said.

The luminaries were all drawn by children who have benefited from Amanda’s Easel. The six-month program is followed by six months of aftercare during which a case manager and social worker provide resources to help the children with basic needs and any legal issues, Muccini said.

Muccini credits Lynn Snyder, founder of the Common Ground Grief Center in Manasquan, for the luminary idea; the center does a display every year for bereavement.

“Lynn was wonderful in steering me: How to do it, how to get it going and where to get the (supplies). I just thought it would work out very well and get the word out about how children are affected by domestic violence as well as commemorating Child Abuse Prevention Month.”

Even with the continuing pandemic, Muccini said children currently attend Amanda’s Easel sessions both in-person and virtually.

“We try to get them in person at least once a week,” she said. “We are kind of an inten- sive program so we’re working on a high-risk schedule so we have individual sessions in-person and then groups have to be virtual at this time.”

Muccini said the kids’ group is doing very well virtually. Currently they have about 27 children for this month and 16 adults.

“They log in, we have a platform that is very confidential,” she said. “It’s just a link that is provided, people don’t have to sign up and we are compliant with all of the confidentiality requirements.

“They have the groups in place in order to have the children feel validated – that they are absolutely not alone,” explained Muccini, “that other children go through similar things in their families and do OK.”

Muccini said children are comforted knowing others have had similar experiences and they are not alone. “With domestic violence there’s so much shame and there’s so much secrecy,” she said.

“It’s a very validating experience to be in a group. And we’re open enrollment, so we have people coming and going at all times and that also works out very nicely, too, because the people who’ve been here for five or six months can really help the new people coming into the group. So it’s really a wonderful program.”

Muccini points out that parents are the nonoffending parent, not an abuser, but someone who’s been identified as a survivor of domestic violence. “There are fathers that join us as well that have been abused and the children are in their care,” she said.

The goal for both the children and the parents is to learn how to express themselves in a safe way.

“Children who have witnessed domestic violence may not have all those skills because they have been told not to express themselves. When parents are fighting they’ve learned to not say a thing, to retreat,” she said. But they know when children witness domestic violence or have been in families that endured trauma, they are definitely affected and need to process it and progress.

“Using the arts allows children to talk about it and release it and to name things and to be able to understand their feelings better and then they don’t have as many outbursts or they’re not as frustrated because they can say, ‘Oh my body feels this way, but it’s because I’m getting angry and I’m going to learn coping to not become angry and to speak and communicate in a healthier way,’ ” Muccini said.

“So it’s a lot about healthy relationships, too. We accomplish a lot here!”

This article originally appeared in the April 8, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.