REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM

The Disastershock Arts & Recovery Team Reporter's Notebook is an interview series exploring voices of innovative GLOBAL Expressive Arts advocates speaking to the power of the arts in healing & integrating the mind-body-spirit in trauma recovery, and the restorative impact of community-based arts practices.

UPCOMING...

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE: CREATIVE ART GROWTH CENTER

DS ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM RESOURCE: ARTS ACCESSIBILITY

EPISODE 5: ARTS ACCESSBILITY & INCLUSION

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE: PROJECT UNLONELY

DS ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM RESOURCE: DRAMA THERAPY

EPISODE 4: EXPRESSIVE MODALITY - CINEMA/FILM

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE: NORDOFF - ROBBINS CENTER

DS: ARTS & RECOVERY: MUSIC THERAPY

EPISODE #3 - EXPRESSIVE MODAILITY - MUSIC

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE: UCLArts & HEALING

DS: ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM RESOURCE: HOLISTIC ARTS

EPISODE #2 - EXPRESSIVE MODALITY - INTEGRATIVE ARTS

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCE: DANCE FOR PD

DS: ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM RESOURCE : DANCE/MOVEMENT

EPISODE # 1: EXPRESSIVE MODALITY - DANCE

PRAISE FOR THE DISASTERSHOCK ARTS & RECOVERY TEAM

ORGANIZATIONS

"Disastershock is a compelling and valuable link to further our understanding of the role that artistic expression plays in supporting people with disabilities or those recovering from trauma or stigma. Creativity must be more fully understood and appreciated as a powerful method to advance our understanding of the human experience. Disastershock is a much-needed resource to help us in this journey."
Tom di Maria, Emeritus Director, Creative Growth Art Center.

"The Disastershock Arts & Recovery series provides a salve to all humanity in the area of what we all most need at any time and especially after surviving overwhelming circumstances: A place to breathe, sense, and feel connected to a restorative human experience." Karen Bagnini., MA, LCAT, LCSW, ABD,
Founder,'We Create To Relate"

"I am grateful for the Disastershock Arts and Recovery Series and Notebook. I have shared the information with the inpatient pediatric Child Life Team and the behavioral health team at the Kalmanovitz Child Development Center of California Pacific Medical Center. The work with children and families is trauma-focused and this resource has been a wonderful addition and creative focus for the work.

The families are grateful for the positive resource and direction."

Suzanne Giraudo Ed.D, Clinical Director. California Pacific Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics. Kalmanovitz Child Development Center

"We have always known that there are multiple ways to
heal after a disaster or trauma. Disastershock Reporter's Notebook brings attention to the important role of the arts & creativity in processing, healing, and making sense of what sometimes cannot be understood on the surface."
Senator John Fredrickson
Nebraska State Senator

"As the head of a community music school that brings music into the lives of so many during turbulent times, the Disastershock Reporter's Notebook is a vital tool we can use
to heal, recover and renew. Dr. Reji Mathew has insight into
that process and a heart for telling the story of how
arts-based programming can be a salve for suffering."
Marigene Kettler, Executive Director
Rockland Conservatory of Music

"It’s quite clear there is a subtle yet strong and malleable interaction between socio-ecological factors and gene expression to optimize various dimensions of wellbeing. Dr. Mathew and her team provide invaluable clinical tools to counter the deleterious effects of trauma for individuals, families, and communities through the careful utilization of the arts."

Ernest Gonzales, PhD, MSSW

James Weldon Johnson, Professor of Social Work

Director, The Center for Health and Aging Innovation

Director, MSW Program, New York University

"The Disastershock Arts & Recovery series offers our global community an understanding of how to hold space for and alleviate the suffering from trauma through the universally accessible and intrinsic power of the creative arts process. This series enhances the existing offerings of the Disastershock project, which generously provides free resources for

resilience-building in disaster zones."

Ping Ho, MA, MPH Founder and Director, UCLArts & Healing Co-Author: The Innovative Parent: Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids Through Art

"The Disastershock & Arts & Recovery series provides deep insight into the foundational link between the arts and healing. With sensitivity and intellectual curiosity, the series illuminates various creative pathways to recovery from trauma. It is a voice of hope in these challenging times."

Lee Colaluca, Vice President, Project UnLonely, The Foundation for Art & Healing

"After watching the Disastershock Arts & Recovery series, and Dr. Reji Mathew's interview with creative arts therapists, it is clear that expressive arts must be a crucial component of the process of healing traumatized communities. When those who have experienced trauma have no words, creative arts expression can be a lifeline." Andrea Gitter, MA, LCAT, BC-DMT Board and Faculty WTCI: an intersectional feminist psychotherapy institute.

“The Disastershock Arts & Recovery Series has created an indispensable bridge between the healing power of the arts and those who are the most vulnerable in traumatic situations. Having seen the healing power of the arts experientially as an arts administrator, I see the profoundly unique contribution of the Disastershock Arts & Recovery team in helping those who have been traumatized by disaster, whether natural or man-made, in reconnecting with their humanity.” Randy Miles,Dance for PD® Programs Administrator

“I have seen firsthand how essential the creative arts therapies have been during disasters. The work of the Disastershock Arts & Recovery team is more than helpful - it is a vital necessity.”
Dr. Alan Turry, Director, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Foundation

"Working at the intersection of geopolitics and international finance, the Disastershock Reporter's Notebook is an indispensable reminder of how music and art bridge our common humanity and provide deep healing for communities struck by tragedy. Dr. Reji Mathew has an unwavering commitment and a nuanced perspective on this important narrative."
Earl Carr, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
CJPA Global Advisors

“As a teaching artist and former professional dancer, I have always known the arts to be crucial in healing. The Reporter’s Notebook has been profoundly eye-opening to me in terms of the reach of the arts in helping support so many communities in need. When I listen to these extraordinary interviews, my heart cracks open, and I wonder. I appreciate Dr. Mathew's deep respect and enthusiasm for all the arts and what they can do to nurture the creative spirit for recovery and resilience. Her interviews bring me into an intimate connection with other remarkable people doing other remarkable work to exactly that end. This is how you bring light into wounds.” - Stephanie Foster, Teaching Artist, Former Twyla Tharp & Eliot Feld Dancer, Integral Enneagram coach - Enneagram Prison Project

"The 'Disastershock Reporter's Notebook' offers a powerful and thought-provoking glimpse into the resilience and strength of communities facing disaster, and highlights the important role that arts-based programming can play in the healing and rebuilding process."
Paula Liz, Visual Arts Educator, Founder & Executive Director of Anti-Racist Art Teachers

"As a representative and ally of the disability community and the CEO of an organization that provides support and services to people in our community, Dr. Reji Mathew's innovative and creative insight into the expressive arts as a format to respond to and cope with trauma is restorative and powerful!" Carlos Martinez, LMSW, CEO/Executive Director, BRIDGES, (RC, CIL) Center for Independent Living.