By Ruth Schowalter, Atlanta InterPlay
Social Media Facilitator
WHAT IS INTERPLAY
GIVE DAY?
May 7th,
2014 is “Give to InterPlay Day.” Donators’ gifts will be doubled to support InterPlay
make positive changes in the world (see here for in-depth information)! Donors are invited to choose one of the various
InterPlay projects they would like to support (see projects here).
ATLANTA INTERPLAY
IS SUPPORTING SURVIVORS OF SEX-TRAFFICKING
Atlanta InterPlay
has chosen to support survivors of sex trafficking (see here to donate
for Atlanta’s cause) because Atlanta has one of the largest sex-trafficking
businesses in the United States (see article here).
Below are
interviews with Atlanta InterPlay Director Jennifer Denning, Atlanta InterPlayer and Social Worker Christine Gautreaux, and InterPlay
Board President Sheila K. Collins.
 |
| Jennifer Denning (center) |
INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER DENNING
Ruth Schowalter: Why did Atlanta choose supporting survivors of sex
trafficking?
Jennifer Denning: We are
developing a partnership with an organization here in Atlanta that has a
program for women who have been involved in sex trafficking or are vulnerable
to it. This particular program supports these young and adult women by
providing services like education and job placement and personal and
interpersonal skills. During this assistance, InterPlay can be a useful tool to
these survivors which honors and, in some cases, help them reclaim the wisdom
of their bodies.
RS: How will the donated money to Atlanta InterPlay be used to support
this partnership?
JD: The donations will provide a stipend for the InterPlay facilitators’
time, travel, and gas. InterPlay is a non-profit organization.
RS: Could you tell me about ways that you are currently using InterPlay in
assisting people in marginalized communities?
JD: Last year, through “Give InterPlay Day” Atlanta partnered with Reforming Arts. It is a non-profit organization that brings education and the
performing arts (acting, playwriting, and performance) to incarcerated women.
Reforming
Arts is offered in a prison located in North Georgia, an hour’s drive from
Atlanta. The funds from “Give InterPlay Day 2013” made it possible for me to
bring InterPlay a dozen times to these women. The experience was great! The
women were responsive and there was a lot of laughter and new insights. They
talked about how before InterPlay they hadn’t known their “dorm-mates” in such meaningful
ways. It was wonderful to see how InterPlay exercises helped them create grace
for one another. A real rich sense of support and connection was generated
through our InterPlay work.
I also
integrate InterPlay into the theatre work I do with Synchronicity Theatre’s “Playmaking For Girls” program—a program that serves
incarcerated girls and girls living in group homes. The “I Could Talk About”
exercise has consistently proven to be an accessible and playful way to begin
to break down boundaries between the girls and the teachers and to have
participants begin to recognize that the details of their lives have value.
RS: Is there anything else you would like to add?
JD: Yes! I love InterPlay for creating connections between people and also
for accessing that authentic creative place within us all. It is really
important to create these opportunities for girls, women, and people who don’t
get these opportunities that often. It is particularly important to make the power
of the expressive arts—telling our stories, having our voices and delighting in
the movement of our bodies—accessible to people who haven’t had that
opportunity. I believe the health of the greater community depends on the
embodied health of us all.
 |
| Sheila K. Collins |
INTERVIEW WITH SHEILA COLLINS
Ruth Schowalter: As a social worker, former social work professor, and now president of the board of
InterPlay, could you explain how InterPlay has evolved to being used as a tool
for social change.
Sheila Collins: We have a term
called “Applied InterPlay.” In the
beginning, InterPlay was an art-based system created by two dancing ministers and
those of us who collected around them were using the tools for our own growth
and amusement. Then we started taking the InterPlay creativity tools into different
communities, organizations, and agencies.
Those of
us in the Body Wisdom Office (headquarters
of InterPlay) have some concept of what InterPlay can add to an agency, and
the agency knows what their people need. When you bring these entities together,
it is very exciting. Something occurs that neither the agency nor InterPlay
could do by themselves.
In
Atlanta, these girls and women who have survived being trafficked are trying to
get GEDs and job interviews. These goals are tough, especially when you are a
felon (Many sex-trafficked women have been charged with prostitution and may
have committed other crimes as a result of their situations). These survivors
need more confidence, and some of that comes from “re-storying” their stories. Through
InterPlay, what we’ve done
is find a playful way to explore our own history and our own stories. And one
of the Atlanta agencies working with women who have been sex-trafficked
identified “re-storying” as something that would helpful to these women.
The idea
of having a “Daughter-Mother Retreat” for program graduates came up in our
conversation, and intergenerational work is a part of what we do in InterPlay.
In a broad way, bringing InterPlay into any agency is a coming together, a
partnership. You have creativity on both sides—the agency and the creative
collaborators with the tools. Everybody wins. InterPlay brings new energy into
what are often, pretty tough assignments.
RS: What do you have to say about Atlanta InterPlay choosing to support
agencies assisting survivors of sex trafficking for “Give InterPlay Day”?
SC: Trauma is in the body, and it stays in the body longer than we would
want it to. That is a scientific fact. For example, if you have been involved
in a car accident, afterwards when you get into a car, your body may relive
whatever happened to you. That’s why just figuring out trauma in your head with
a therapist isn’t the whole solution. InterPlay is an indirect way to release
that trauma from the body by using the tools of movement, dance, and voice,
which wouldn’t happen if you were just talking.
RS: Why should people donate to Atlanta InterPlay for “Give InterPlay Day”?
SC: It seems to me that as a culture we have a debt to pay to our children
that were not protected. That’s who these people are. There is awareness about
this atrocity, so here is a creative innovative collaborative possibility that
could make a huge difference for a small amount of money. IntePlay is efficient
and effective.
INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINE NICHOLS GAUTREAUX
Ruth Schowalter: Christine, you are a licensed master’s social worker
(LMSW) with more than 16 years of experience, as well as an Atlanta InterPlayer.
You will be one of the people going into the agencies working with survivors of
sex trafficking using InterPlay. How do the tools of InterPlay support healing
for these girls and women?
 |
| Christine Nichols Gautreaux (top center) |
Christine Nichols Gautreaux: I think InterPlay is an incredible
tool and a holistic way for people to heal, especially for people who have been
through trauma. Let’s explain that a
little. As people go through trauma they disassociate from their bodies in
order to survive. InterPlay is very effective for getting people to listen and
connect with themselves and others. The healing process provided through
InterPlay can be fun and gentle.
RS: What will you bring to these women as a social worker that does
InterPlay?
CNG: In addition to a multitude of experience and tools, I also bring the
ability to evaluate the effectiveness of InterPlay and to show that it is a
proven method to increase people’s communication skills, wellbeing, and overall
feeling of hope.
RS: What would you like to see happen in the future combining the tools of
InterPlay and other social agencies?
CNG: I’d like to see the spread of InterPlay—does that sound like a plague?
It would be a positive plague! InterPlay is a fun and proven way to increase
hope in people’s lives. That’s huge! I can say from a professional and personal
level that every time I participate in InterPlay, I feel great!
DO YOU WANT TO SUPPORT SURVIVORS OF ATLANTA'S SEX TRAFFICKING THROUGH INTERPLAY? Click HERE to donate on May 7th, midnight to midnight.
