Art therapy helps Marshall Fire victims process fear, grief using creativity
Apr. 19—When the Marshall Fire swept through Superior, Andrea Golod found herself reliving a past trauma. Though Golod, a Superior resident, was fortunate enough not to have her home burned on Dec. 30, she knew how it felt to suffer through the pain of a house fire.
Years ago, Golod and her family lost nearly everything when a blaze broke out in their condominium complex, destroying three homes and damaging three more.
Golod found herself in a unique position to help Marshall Fire survivors. As the marketing manager for Friday Health Plans and the chair for the Superior Cultural Arts and Public Spaces Advisory Committee — both of which wanted to help fire survivors, Golod had both the connections and resources to facilitate a way to help the community.
"This is something that's going to take people years and years to recover from. Instead of just coming in, dropping a bunch of money, and then leaving, I wanted to help do something that was sustained and prolonged and very intentional," Golod said.
That's when she came up with the idea of offering group art therapy sessions.
Since March, the Superior Chamber of Commerce — with help from Friday Health Plans — has been hosting free art therapy sessions for Marshall Fire victims.
Art therapy is a therapy technique that is based on the idea that the creative process and creative expression can help the brain process traumatic experiences.
"When you have a traumatic event, it basically sits in your brain in a deep, inaccessible place. It impacts your life in ways that you aren't even aware of. If you don't unlock that trauma from that part of your brain, it will just continue to wreak havoc. Art therapy works because if you think about that traumatic event, and you do other things that stimulate other parts of your brain, it helps break up that trauma and helps make that trauma dissipate," Golod said.
The free therapy program is offered for any residents, whether they are current or displaced, in Superior, Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County. The therapy sessions are led by therapists Krista Reinhardt-Ruprecht and Jamie Peschke from the Nest Creative Therapy Center in Lafayette.
Sessions are broken into two groups: one for people who have lost everything and one for people experiencing some kind of fire-related trauma.
"There's a very different need for people who lost their homes and for those who didn't," Reinhardt-Ruprecht said. "They're both very real traumas, but they're both very different in so many ways. We arranged the groups so that everyone felt comfortable expressing their pain."
The sessions are also divided by age, with sessions for adults and for children.
Last month, the therapy sessions revolved around the creation of "homes," as many attendees had either lost their home or had their home significantly damaged.
The adult and teenager groups made collages, paintings and written works based on the theme of home. The younger groups had to come up with a creature that would protect their homes and keep it safe from harm.
The creative sessions are also coupled with talk therapy, where attendees are encouraged to not only express their trauma creatively but communicate with others about their experiences.
"They're doing this community kind of healing and learning that they aren't the only ones to experience this. There is someone else who has a similar story, and they can talk about it and feel bad, and it's OK," Reinhardt-Ruprecht said.
For Reinhardt-Ruprecht, the most rewarding part of the entire program has been seeing how the community has rallied around one another.
"Despite the collective pain and trauma that the fire caused, seeing people support each other and validate each other's experiences is beautiful," Reinhardt-Ruprecht said.
The art therapy sessions are offered six times a month and are set to continue through December. To sign up for a future session, visit the Superior Chamber of Commerce website.
