Editor’s note: This article features Street Sense vendors and volunteers. Street Sense maintains a firewall between its newsroom and other programs, and they were not involved in the production of the article.
In a sunny atrium atop G Street’s Epiphany Church, eight Street Sense vendors sang together. “Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on.” Away from the unforgiving stress of housing insecurity, their voices filled the empty space above their heads. These vendors gather weekly to write about their lives and share their perspectives on experiencing homelessness during Street Sense Media’s theatre workshop. Although the program was started with a focus on bringing the performing arts to vendors, participants have ended up finding unintended, but powerful, therapeutic rewards. For some participants, writing, speaking, and singing had become a form of healing.
People experiencing homelessness face higher rates of traumatic experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder than the general population, studies show. Amid a lack of mental health resources for people who cannot afford to pay, free art creation programs are providing an avenue of healing for those facing the trauma and loneliness of homelessness.
Traumatic experiences take a toll on the body and can turn into hard-to-treat conditions like anger, anxiety, or depression. Treatment to address that trauma can be life-changing, but with proper care behind a paywall, that treatment can be difficult to access. Out-of-pocket cost for one therapy appointment in D.C. ranges from $100 to $350, and local mental health institutions sometimes handle patients poorly or don’t provide treatment that lasts, a Disability Rights D.C. report showed.
Small communities across D.C. are responding to that gap in care with the arts. Organizations including Street Sense, Sasha Bruce Youthworks, and the Latin American Youth Center offer free programs that facilitate self-expression, discussion, and social connection through art. Providing these basic tenets of human connection is critical to helping heal individuals who have experienced trauma, according to Jordan Potash, an associate professor at The George Washington University who has trained master’s students to become professional art therapists since 2003.
Art creation and guided intentional discussion promote imagination and flexibility, two abilities that help us navigate and cope with hardship. They also help the mind and body relax to consider larger goals than the trauma-induced focus of moment-to-moment survival. This “fight or flight” mindset, as Potash puts it, comes with the experiences of poverty and racism. Intentional art creation, abstract metaphor use, and dialogue calms us down, brings suppressed emotions to our attention, and gets us more in touch with the feelings of our bodies and stories of our lives.
“When you’re singing with people, you lose the sense of loneliness, I think. It’s a bridge between you and other people because you hear them, and you see them singing,” said Roy Barbour, who volunteers with Street Sense to co-lead the theatre workshop with Leslie Jacobson. Barbour and Jacobson aim for the group singing they guide to create energy, community, and hope — each a basic pillar of wellness.
In the atrium above the Street Sense offices, vendors shared their hopes to wake up in a warm bed, see industrial smokestacks replaced with green gardens, and find their loved ones smiling. Guided by writing prompts that differ each week, vendors draw from their experiences to write a script they will turn into a play and perform for the public. “It gives you a chance to focus on something that takes you completely away from what you’re worried about, what you’re thinking about, you focus in on the free expression. It helps you let go of static emotions,” participant Angie Whitehurst said.
The theater workshop is one of several Street Sense art programs that provide a safe place for people to share their experiences, emotions, and hardships with others who listen. Although vendors who attend the workshops receive Street Sense papers they can sell, Whitehurst believes the main reason people come is because they need love, kindness, and attention. Workshop participants say they feel better after the sessions.
Intentional self-expression is a release for internal anxiety, Whitehurst and Potash agree. While programs like Street Sense’s offer the opportunity for safe self-expression in a simple, group format, the clinical practice of art therapy uses one-on-one sessions and professional therapists.
The medical community first recognized the therapeutic benefits of art in 1942 with the introduction of a practice called dynamically oriented art therapy. Since then, art therapy has grown into a mainstream mental health profession capable of treating conditions including depression, trauma, and substance abuse. Clinical sessions employ specific structures, materials, and a trained therapist to guide patients through a process called “meaning making” about their art, Potash explains. But the cost of one clinical art therapy session is similar to the cost of traditional therapy and can be prohibitive.
The George Washington University offers a student art therapy clinic in Old Town, Alexandria, that offers professional services and only charges patients what they can pay.
At the Latin American Youth Center, homeless or disadvantaged youth aged 12 through 21 can take advantage of bilingual art therapy and community support programs. The center also offers medication management, group talk therapy, and case management services, according to the website.
Potash also holds open art therapy hours every Friday at Sasha Bruce Youthwork’s Eastern Market drop-in center, a resource for runaway and homeless youth. Potash reports seeing five to six people a week, although it varies. Because of the transitory nature of homelessness, following travel routines often proves difficult. Although Potash can’t do full hour-long clinical sessions because of irregular attendance and drop-in time constraints, he tries to meet participants where they are, listen to their stories, and remind them who they are. These are important steps in treating trauma, he said.
“We are used to telling very well-rehearsed stories about our lives. Telling your story with art helps create a psychological distance and understanding about the pasts of your story,” Potash said.
By using this trauma-informed approach in his therapy, Potash aims to help the brain return to its natural baseline of operation rather than expecting to face difficulty all the time.
“The nature of trauma is to constrict one’s world into ‘how do I stay safe and secure in a given moment?’” Potash said, noting it’s difficult to live life when you are always highly activated and on edge. Imagination can help open up one’s world again — to feel the things they need to feel, to think the things they need to think.”
The people Potash sees in the drop-in center appreciate the space to express their feelings, tell their stories, and find new perspectives on their situation, she reports. Change may not always be big or immediate, but Potash said that after a session, most people feel more relaxed and have developed a skill they can continue to use.
“We don’t have to be scared of our stories,” Potash said, “so long as we know how to handle them well.”
