Sep 13, 2021
Gloria Simoneaux is the founder of Harambee Arts and two time Fulbright Scholar. She will share the work she has done with children all over the world to promote their wellbeing through the expressive arts and through community building. Harambee Arts promotes the well-being of children living in poverty who are often homeless, orphaned, abused and neglected. The show will discuss how her programs enhance the stability of the children’s families and support systems. She will share how children can develop their sense of self-worth and positive personal ethics by creating opportunities for children to reach out to other children. Her current work in Dominica, Nairobi, and Nepal will be highlighted and she will share the wisdom of how she cultivates hope even in the aftermath of the most unspeakable traumas. Gloria will elaborate upon the philosophy of Harambee Arts methodology and how all children of all abilities and accomplishments are valued. She believes in joining with the child in their world, rather than following rigid agendas sometimes created by adults. She will help us understand how her current project evolved into a series of coloring books, You are the Star of this Story and I Can’t Forget. Both books are designed by and for children that addresses using expressive arts as an avenue for growth and self-regulation in the wake of trauma and natural disaster.
Elaine Miller-Karas will amplify the message of hope, healing and resiliency she has learned from our world community as she has traversed the globe after human made and natural disasters. Hope often springs forth in response to suffering and trauma. Our beliefs and our wellbeing are being challenged during these unprecedented times. The program Resiliency Within is about cultivating individual and community resiliency. Resiliency is the capacity to lean into our strengths with compassion during the most challenging of times and to remember what else is true? about our lived experience. Her guests are inspiring global leaders actively promoting healing and resiliency from a variety of backgrounds. The goal is to spread wellbeing and give individual and community examples to inspire how wellness skills, including ones based upon neuroscience and the biology of the human nervous system, can be integrated into one's life, family and community during challenging times.