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The Red Pencil’s mission to bring HOPE and Mental RESILIENCE through arts therapy in the midst of Covid-19 :

1. Since 2011, The Red Pencil has been pioneering the use of arts therapy in humanitarian settings and has worked in over 24 countries with over 220 local NGOs. We work with people of all faiths or none to uphold mental health and well-being through therapeutic art used in culturally appropriate ways.

2. Our mission is to restore hope through the power of arts therapy to children and families who have survived traumatic circumstances – natural disasters, displacement as a result of conflict, life-threatening illness, human trafficking, violence and abuse and more recently, the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. When words are hard to find, arts therapy enables self-expression and healing through drawing, painting and music. We have pivoted our services online during the past year to continue supporting mental health resilience through online arts therapy and Train the Trainer services.

4. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on the mental health of many people and is especially difficult for children, young people and families in countries where schooling has been interrupted for over a year and health services have been overwhelmed. The psychological effects of Covid-19 deaths and losses, lockdown isolation, disruption to schools, health services, businesses and normal life have been heart-breaking and our pioneering arts therapy services are needed now more than ever.

5. We are urgently fundraising to provide further online arts therapy services and Train the Trainer projects across the Middle East and Africa region, such as our current project in Lebanon to provide arts therapy for children with cancer and other long-term illnesses. These children and their families had their tutoring and medical care disrupted by the explosion at the Port of Beirut last August and continue to battle their illnesses and fears through the additional hardships of Covid-19 disruption, lockdown isolation and worsening economic conditions in Lebanon.

6. Take a look at our “Kibera Colours” video from our recent project in the Kibera community in Kenya, the largest urban slum in Africa, to understand how arts therapy can help bring hope and mental health resilience to key workers such as teachers, youth workers, counsellors and social workers in fragile settings :

7. Caregivers such as these are working in the most challenging conditions to support the well-being, resilience and education of some of the most disadvantaged communities around the region. Please give generously to support The Red Pencil’s campaign for mental health resilience during this terrible pandemic.

Help us change the world through creative arts therapy!  

Thank you for your support!

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