Thanks Giving Recovery Art Project

A common component of recovering from addiction is learning to practice gratitude.  And what better month to honor that practice than the month of Thanksgiving.

For this week's recovery project, I asked the group to decorate canvas potholders in expressions of gratitude.

Supplies needed:

• plain canvas potholders (available from Oriental Trading Company, currently for $13 / dozen)
• colored, fine-point permanent markers

I introduced the activity:  "This is an activity to recognize and acknowledge Thanksgiving.  Holiday's can be a very challenging and triggering time for addicts.  So it's important that we recognize them in our own ways.  I encourage you to focus on the gratitude aspect of this holiday.  And as the holiday tends to be focused on food, we are acknowledging that in using potholders as the medium on which to express our gratitude."

I was a bit nervous that the men in the group would think the project too girlie.  But I was pleasantly surprised that they all participated.  We invite people to participate in the art projects, but no one is required to.  Some people prefer to use the time to do writing or simply meditate, and I support people in using the time in whatever way best meets their needs.  We give everyone 15 minutes to work on the project, 5 minutes to wrap up or clean up and then return to a regular meeting format of sharing.

Here are a couple of examples of the work that came out of this week's group:

Again, as I've mentioned before, we encourage people not to focus too much on creating "art," but just expressing themselves creatively, as a child might.

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?