On behalf of the Brimstone Award Committee, we would like to announce the winners of the 2007 Brimstone Award!  While the initial intention was to provide a grant for only one project, awards are being given this year to four applicants for $5,000 each, because of the extraordinary merit of these projects.

Recipients:

Sharon Forrence, MSW &
Juliet Bruce, Ph.D.

$5,000.00

Project Title: “Building Resilience through Narrative”

Brief Synopsis: Since 2001, Arts for Life has helped people and communities respond creatively to crisis through the arts. This Building Resilience Through Narrative project brings story-making to an often
forgotten group of people: humanitarian aid staff, crisis responders, and volunteers who respond to natural and man-made disasters and public health crises and who frequently experience the same traumas as the people they are there to help. This project builds on current practices to support aid workers and other crisis responders. Our workshop is unique in that it teaches participants how to use narrative to structure their
experience, then to write their story and tell it within the healing environment of peer group commupity. Writing about difficult, even traumatic, experiences appears to be good for health on several tevels - raising immunity and other health measures and improving life functioning.  Additionally, we userelaxation techniques to help release stress and work-related trauma.