Teen Brings Art to Shelters, Hospitals as Healing Therapy

Harker High School senior Avni Barman has adopted a new pathway for healing by using art to de-stress and express emotion.

By Niharika Jain

San Jose, Calif. — Harker High School senior Avni Barman has adopted a new pathway for healing by using art to de-stress and express emotion.

The Bay area Indian American teenager leverages her art background as a way to provide art therapy to local shelters and hospitals through her program, Art for Recovery.

Art for Recovery’s work involves teaching children and adults at hospitals and shelters art skills to engage them in arts and crafts as a forum for healing and recovery. The program provides the students with all supplies, which are age-appropriate, required for the art projects through the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts led by Barman.

Studies by psychologists have shown that art helps improve well-being, and Barman’s program helps to make the experience of being in a hospital or shelter less traumatic for the children who are directly impacted through her one-on-one attention and care.

From a very young age, the young teen has been doodling and dabbling in art. She found art as a hobby and a way to relieve her stress or used it as a break from studying. Then, in her sophomore year, Barman reached out to Hayward Kaiser, who reciprocated her idea for starting a formal hospital-sponsored program.

The project, now in full force for the past two years, has reached six Bay Area shelters and hospitals, including Kaiser Hayward, Abode, and My Friends Pediatric. After receiving such positive feedback, Barman hopes to expand and offer art to more local Bay Area shelters. Thus far, she has worked with more than 85 pediatric patients and 50 shelter children.

Barman, who is currently applying to colleges, has already launched campaigns via Piggybackr to receive funding for her efforts to allow for the expansion of Art for Recovery. She also recently received a Susan Lindquist Community Service Grant that has been useful in helping the project to expand.

When asked about the impact of the project on her life, Barman told India-West, “This project has made me grow tremendously as an artist and as a better human being. I have not only developed a deeper understanding of the work medical staff do but also personally developed more patience and better skills at handling children.”

Barman and Art for Recovery are currently looking for more volunteers to help them with their initiative. More information about Art for Recovery and joining the initiative can be found at the www.art4recovery.com website.

This story originally appeared in India West.