The inclusion of therapeutic activities in a community gathering opens up the space for engaged conversations and meaningful connections. Wellness activities can range in their therapist potential. On April 31st, the Safety and Wellness Department partnered with the New York Public Library (NYPL) Tompkins’s Square branch on a workshop to build community and create art with individuals from Ukraine who had recently arrived in the United States. This was a meaningful activity for the Ukrainian community and one that the IRC in NY hopes to do again!  

The workshop was designed to bring orientation and discussion around culture and integration. Part one of the workshop involved a discussion around group participants’ experiences with adjusting to life in New York. Many participants wanted to understand their available options and shared their challenges in seeking resources. This discussion led to participants asking questions about navigating services, benefits, and resources to meet their basic needs.  

The second part of the workshop went on to discuss group participants’ experiences in building a community here in the U.S. Art become a unifying activity during this part. Facilitators invited participants to illustrate what community meant to them through the medium of oil pastels. While the activity was initially met with some ambivalence as participants didn’t consider themselves to be “creative”, it seemed to be fruitful.

The activity was therapeutic and many participants began to open up about their lives before arriving in the US. They found it relaxing. Many shared what they had found helpful to them with respect to creating community here in New York since fleeing conflict in Ukraine a year prior.

The IRC in NY Safety & Wellness Department hopes to center similar discussions in workshops ahead. This workshop highlighted the continuing challenges among Ukrainian humanitarian parolees in navigating and accessing services and resources in New York and the need for additional information and support in doing so.

The workshop especially highlighted the importance of offering a space in which this community can come together to share their experiences and provide support to one another. Most important, the use of art showed to be a promising means to facilitate such a space in the future to more communities.