Alesia K. Alexander Layne

Tapestries: a Creative & Inclusive Approach to Grief Support for Youth & Communities Alesia K. Alexander Layne

A tapestry has many different colored threads, textiles and textures that are woven together to make a beautiful, cohesive and inclusive work of art and community. Tapestry making, now a lost art, served as a concrete art-form, and a metaphor for how families and communities told stories about their lives and connections. Our communities are struggling to find ways to reach and touch young people and the events that are tearing at the fabric of their futures. Tapestries is a creative, and inclusive facilitation guide and offers exploratory support for advocates and centers that must begin to look at layers of losses to stay relevant in their communities, and with more diverse funding sources. Young people and the people that love and advocate for them can use the ideas and activities in TAPESTRIES to weave a colorful, and meaningful dialogue about change and loss and how this impacts development, ideas about their loss stories and as a foundation for hope. Appropriate for established advocates and for any program looking for relevant and resonant ways to interact and engage with new and diverse participants in grief support and youth development programming.