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Sharing Stories Peace of Mind Blog

A New Approach to Sharing our Impact

As we wrap up the year, we are excited to share our 2023 Impact Book. Every year we search for a metric that shows the full accomplishments of our CREATORS Network. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over a decade of working in the expressive arts, it’s that no number of canvases painted could possibly […]

On Vets and Mental Health — An Interview with Greg Strachoff, LICSW and Veteran

Marketing and Design Coordinator Christina Strachoff sat down with her father, LICSW and Veteran himself, to talk about post-deployment adjustments and vet mental health in honor of Veterans Day. The following interview includes mentions of deployment, substance use, and mental illness. Could you tell me about your military experience? When you were in the military, […]

7 Ways We’re Celebrating our CREATORS Training Program!

Our CREATORS program turns 7 this year! CREATORS began in 2015 when the demand for our expressive arts workshops outgrew our capacity to lead them ourselves. We began training frontline professionals, equipping them with supplies and curriculum, to lead our workshops with their own populations. 7 years later, we’re excited to report on the success […]

Mental Health Organizations + Resources for BIPOC

July is national “BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month!”  As an organization that promotes mental wellness, we cannot fully do our job without addressing the imbalance, lack of access, and overall whiteness that exists in mental healthcare. Now more than ever we must discuss the disparity of mental health resources for communities that have been pushed […]

Our New COO And Her Favorite Photographs: Helen Leffers

The changes brought about by COVID-19 have left us feeling like we’re at a stand-still. Yet, despite all this waiting, time is moving forward. The way we do things at PeaceLove has had to change in lieu of recent events. However, some of the changes that have taken place over the last month are happy […]

What Is Creativity? With Erminio Pinque

More than just a Storyteller alum, Erminio is the founder and director of BIG NAZO. If you’re a Rhode Island local, you might have seen these massive creatures pop up on the streets of Providence. It’s a transformative experience of interactive puppetry, noise, and movement. Erminio was kind enough to invite me into his studio and spend the morning talking about creativity.

Mental Health Program In The Homeless Community

Partnerships and CREATOR Trainer Deidre Fraser started leading workshops in Skid Row after seeing a post by Pasadena-Altadena Community Youth Association searching for someone to lead a reflective arts experience. Skid Row is a homeless community of approximately 11,000 people in downtown Los Angeles. It is the largest homeless community in the United States of […]

Creating Social Impact Through Film: Equitas Entertainment

Our partner, Equitas Entertainment, is premiering their newest film, Imprisoned, across the United States. A production company dedicated to social impact, Equitas shares stories that give voice to underrepresented populations in current media.  Written roughly 10 years ago, the story of Imprisoned is inspired by writer Paul Kampf’s work teaching theatre in prisons. It is […]

Live Your Joy

Black and white image of Kyri laughing while petting a llama

Monday morning I had the pleasure of meeting a bright-haired fellow aires, Kyri Allison. We talked about exposure, astrology, and the importance of living your joy. Kyri is a PeaceLove CREATOR who held workshops with patients at Bradley in the Milieu unit. In addition to running our workshops, Kyri conducted exposures. “Exposure” is a treatment […]

Paint With Us

I had the pleasure of chatting with PeaceLove Co-founder Jeff Sparr during his weekly Wednesday painting session. Watch Jeff finish his painting as we talk fashion, Storytellers, and all things PeaceLove!    Victoria Rose is a writer and musician from Providence, Rhode Island. victoria@peacelove.org

Transformation Collage

I might be short, but I’m incredibly long winded. I tell stories like Tchaikovsky. There are no straight lines or clear points, only movements. Telling a story isn’t as simple as starting at the beginning. Sometimes, you have to start in the middle and work your way back. And, for that reason, I can’t start […]

PeaceLoveRIC

Over Rhode Island College’s spring break, CREATOR Jose Rosario facilitated a workshop that brought together individuals from all over campus. As a PeaceLove team member and RIC student, I dropped in to participate. The workshop, Creative Calisthenics, let us get our hands colorful, and collaborate on a series of paintings. (Above: A fellow participant using […]

Dual Emotions

Thursday I had the pleasure of sitting in on a workshop facilitated by CREATORS Colleen and Laura, who work for Family Service of Rhode Island. This workshop was special to me because it was the first workshop I was ever able to observe or participate in. I’ve gotten to write about so many of the […]

Community Connection in Franklin County Jails with Tresalyn Butler

Our February here at PeaceLove Studios started off on a great note, as our team received an email with a True Q Magazine article featuring one our very own CREATORS: Deputy Tresalyn Butler. Tresalyn works in the Franklin County jail system and conducts PeaceLove workshops with people who are incarcerated. True Q Magazine, a publication based […]

Taking Leaps

This week I had the opportunity to meet with CREATOR and Storytellers Alum, Allison Rose. I was extra excited for this week’s post, as I began experimenting with video. Here, for the very first time on the PeaceLove Blog, is an acoustic performance of “I’m Alive” off Allison’s EP, Hope.    Allison has been […]

The Power of Youth

I am currently twenty years old. I remember turning twenty and how weird it felt to no longer be a teenager. It had taken me so long to be comfortable in my identity as a teenage girl, and to have who I was stripped away again and turned into something new felt very unusual. I […]

Perspective + Resolution

Artist Stephanie Prechter and PeaceLove CEO and co founder Matt Kaplan

It’s been over a week since I talked with Stephanie Prechter. Like many of us this fall season, I’ve been sick. Luckily for me, Stephanie is a warm, charismatic individual with amazing stories, so I remember our interview clearly. And now, feeling better, I am so excited to finally be able to share her story. […]

Making Wellness Resources Accessible with performance.io

CEO and founder of performance.io with PeaceLove Co-Founders Jeff Sparr and Matthew Kaplan

Matt Lowe is the Founder and CEO of performance.io and an amazingly caring, driven individual. I got to speak with him earlier this morning to hear his story. Based out of the United Kingdom, performance.io is a company that works with SEO, or “search engine optimization.” As someone who just figured out how to download […]

Sokeo Ros

Dancer, performer, and arts educator Sokeo Ros talks at PeaceLove's 2018 storytelling event Peace of Mind Storytellers

The more I blog, the more organic I try to have my interviews for my posts become. I stop trying to form conversations around a topic, and I let the conversations shape my posts. Writing these posts is not always easy. I’ve been interviewing PeaceLove CREATORS and Storytellers since early this summer, spending an hour […]

DREEMS

Ukelele musician Eems performing at PeaceLove's storytelling event, 2018 Peace of Mind Storytellers

Kicking off our Storytellers event this past May was singer, songwriter, and musician, Eems. As a musician myself and a big time music nerd, I was super excited to talk to Eems about the process of touring and producing music. Eems is a true Renaissance artist, and keeps his hand in many different mediums. In addition […]

I Live For…

Mental health activist Nikki Webber Allen speaking at PeaceLove 2018 Peace of Mind Storytellers

After hearing Nikki Webber Allen speak at the 2018 Peace of Mind Storytellers event, I was eager to interview her for our blog. A filmmaker and a mental healthcare activist, Nikki spoke of her experience with depression and how she struggled to speak about it for years. Like many others, Nikki had a great life and […]

Perception

Speaker Susan Robinson speaking at PeaceLove's Peace of Mind Storytellers event

This past week I spoke on the phone with Susan Robinson, a high-energy New Yorker who spoke at PeaceLove’s Storytellers event this past May. It was amazing to talk with Susan and learn more about her; she’s an incredible wordsmith who tells fascinating stories and has interesting hobbies. We talked about impressionist and post-impressionist paintings, painters like […]

Dropping the Stigma

When Mia was young, she would accompany her family on their visits to her grandmother in the hospital. For years she would visit her grandmother, yet never did she truly understand what was wrong. All her family would ever tell her was, “she’s ill.” It wasn’t until much later that Mia learned her grandmother was […]

Touching Lives In A Way Words Can’t

When I ask Kim to describe herself to me, she answers with what she says is “the most social worker answer to the question.” She tells me that before anything else, she is just a human. Kim Diorio is a dancer, and has been dancing for nearly three decades now. She is a social worker, […]

Empowerment

Black and white image of Jose Rosario speaking into microphone

We all know that life is a weird, wonderful, place that can sometimes feel more upside-down than right-side up. It can be coal mine to which it feels like we spend all day mining. But in every coal mine there’s a gem to be found. And in this weird, wonderful coal mine of life, there’s […]

Coping Creatively With Cancer

What is it like to work with patients who have cancer? How do you offer emotional support to those struggling through one of the scariest phases in life?  What do you do in this line of work to maintain a positive attitude? Monday, I sat down with Ceceley Chambers, and got to hear all about […]