I am an African American woman about middle age. I have gone through several different hard times, including homelessness, mental & substance conditions, and family loss. My creative therapy is to express things in my art. I create all different types of art using painting, sewing, writing, and now clay manipulation. I feel that my writing can tell stories and keep me out of my head. My sewing helps with giving to others and showing a sense of style. My art lets me experiment with different substrates to show how complicated but connected the world is. These things help me to recover from the experiences that held me down but now lift me up. I strive to show other people of color, age, and through recovery that it is possible to keep pressing forward no matter what.