Healing Through Creativity

Creativity is a wonderful way to deal with grief. Whether it's writing, drawing, painting or filmmaking, using one's creativity to express the feelings associating with grief is a powerful tool.
Healaing Through Creativity

The issue of loss is a common theme in the Scholastic Awards as teens use their creativity to deal with the bereavement process. 2009 Scholastic Award winner Chelsey Shannon used her creative writing skills to help deal with the untimely death of her father, comedian Blair Shannon. Chelsey, who also lost her mother at age 6, says of her father’s death, “Right after I learned he died, all I could do was write letters to him, just so I’d have some sort of connection.” Chelsey was one of more than a thousand teens honored at Carnegie Hall by the Alliance. She has since published a book and continues to receive accolades for her writing.

I am particularly fond of letter writing as a way of finishing business and saying anything that feels unsaid, a common experience for people who are grieving.