About me

Hello! My name is Edwin Luis and my objective is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how Art Therapy can serve as a valuable and constructive approach to support incarcerated juveniles. By increasing self-awareness to help understand their thoughts and feelings, art therapy can improve coping skills for emotional expression, emotional regulation and create a greater sense of mental well-being.

 

Although I aspire to become an attorney, I am also passionate about literature, music, painting, and ballet. Growing up, I always had a love for the arts and spent hours lost in the creative process. Whenever I fell into the depth of difficulties, I always took a pivot turn to art and I realized the healing power of creative expression and its therapeutic effects. When I discovered that my father had major health issues and was becoming depressed and Isolated from the world, I took action to improve his mental health by sharing the beauty of colors on a canvas. It did take time for him to truly enhance his artistic self, but when he began to paint, I saw light and hope through his eyes. Afterwards, he joyfully told me, “I feel like Picasso”. No matter what type of art my dad or I constructed, it always gave us a sense of control and purpose–and I want to share the same experience with others as I did with my father. When I learned that art therapy helps people express sentiments and heal from traumatic events, I immediately was inspired to help incarcerated juveniles who may not have access to therapeutic outlets.  

 

My website, ArtfulRedemption, centers around this topic and features research-based blogs, podcasts with art therapists and other professionals, and in-person workshops at a detention center.  Lesson plans will be provided during the workshops that explain how art therapy can benefit juveniles and include activities that allow them to be expressive. There will be two blogs and podcasts a month and weekly in-person workshops.  

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