Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center will host an arts showcase of youth enrolled in an opioid use disorder program at the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Facility on Saturday, December 7 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The showcase highlights the youth arts created during a 16-week creative wellness program led by St. Paul-based Restorative Reiki Health and Wellness. The event brings awareness to Black and Native American communities disproportionately affected by opioid use and overdoses, said Molly Evans, executive director and founder of Restorative Reiki Health and Wellness.
The goal of the program – designed for marginalized youth – was to promote recovery and healing after experiences with opioid use.
“It provides space to release internally held negative emotions,” Evans said. “We need to create spaces to have positivity and form new ideas.”
Every Saturday, the 13 to 18 year olds worked on self-portraits, landscapes and abstract art using a variety of methods such as watercolour, paint and colored pencil. Overall, the youth learned self-care skills, self-control and emotional dysregulation, Evans said.
Local artists who were previously affected by the justice system also came to teach art.
“They were able to see that we are all worth more than the worst mistake we make, and that they have the ability to have a positive future,” Evans said.
Evans understands the juvenile justice system deeply because she grew up with incarcerated parents. She can relate to turning a disadvantage into an opportunity. It was humbling and beautiful for her to witness the learning and growth among the youth participants, she said.
The skills that art cultivates go hand-in-hand with the process of completing treatment for opioid use disorder, Evans said.
“When we put the two together, it’s kind of like your top piece of bread on a sandwich,” Evans said. “You don’t have the whole sandwich without one.”
There will be a group mural in the display case that everyone can contribute to. For Evans, art shows humanity on an issue that affects our entire community. Free Naloxone kits, an opioid antagonist, will be distributed with training on how to use it.
“We’re going into this hoping to connect with the community so that when they leave they meet someone they didn’t know before and had a super impactful experience,” Evans said.
