Dr. Hillary Rubesin, executive director of the Art Therapy Institute (ATI), just returned from her second
volunteer weekend in Juarez, Mexico.

Along with a small team of volunteer mental health clinicians and educators from around the U.S., Dr. Rubesin had the privilege of providing expressive art therapy services to children + families in eight different migrant shelters along the border.

Despite the difficult living conditions and heartbreaking narratives, the team was heartened by the connections made during the experience.

“Together we danced, sang, vigorously played egg shakers and drums made from overturned buckets, waved colorful scarves, tossed balloons in the air, and shared piano and guitar
songs from our various cultures," Dr. Rubesin says. "We screamed and breathed and screamed again; created art about our families, our favorite places, and what makes our hearts happy; and spoke candidly about how we can better care for one another.”

Some of the shelters were small churches, with fewer than 50 people living under the roofs of caring, under-resourced pastors. Some were large government-run buildings, housing more than 700 migrants in bunk beds spread across large gymnasiums. Other shelters were safe spaces dedicated to specific migrant communities, such as transgender women.

“I was humbled that every single shelter – despite the vast differences between them — welcomed us with open arms," Dr Rubesin says. "I was struck by how easily we could connect with the migrants through our collective art-making, and I was grateful that my work with refugees and immigrants over the past decade at ATI helped me feel comfortable and prepared to work in these types of spaces. What both surprised me — and yet didn't surprise me at all — was how similar the artwork of the border migrants was to artwork created by newcomers we work with in N.C. every day: colorful images of family, friends, and pets, and landscapes of home, drawn next to unknowns about the future.”

Dr. Rubesin and her team also offered workshops in vicarious trauma and self-care to the staff at COESPO (the government agency that facilitated the team’s connections with the shelters) while also doing their real jobs of processing hundreds of asylum seekers every single day.

“Witnessing the hearts of these staff members was probably the most powerful moment for me — the simple realization of the immense efforts dedicated to maintaining the dignity, care, and hopes of migrants seeking a safer life for their families,” Dr. Rubesin says.

Sleep-deprived and over-stimulated only 14 hours after returning to N.C., Dr. Rubesin struggles to find words to express the privilege she feels at being able to do this work.

“I look forward to continuing the training of local teachers, therapists, and artists in Juarez to provide trauma-informed care to the thousands of migrants still entering (and remaining in) this city," she says. "These are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met."

To learn more about Dr. Rubesin's work, visit vocesartsandhealing.org + ncati.org.

Voices contribution by Susie McDonald, Board President
The Art Therapy Institute of N.C.