here at work the clients of our service have recently made recovery poles, totems of things that represent their journeies of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction...If I was to attent a retreat I'd like something like that as part of my healing - yeah a recovery pole, a totem spirit guide, an honor of my strength and courage

Tell me more! How did they make them? What size were they? How long did it take?

I would like to write a letter to my attacker and then rip it up, burn it, or whatever. I'd like to draw but draw like I'm a little kid (I'm an artist, I'd love someone to tell me draw but draw imperfectly) What if everyone banded together on some huge canvass (or lots of little ones that were then connected) and made an image? A bird, maybe? I'll keep thinking about this one. I love the totem pole idea! What if each person made one and maybe the bottom represented them at their lowest point and then it worked up to representing where they would want to be when they truly saw themselves as a survivor? Matt, look what you've done! (lol) Get my creative juices going! Geez! (I'm kidding, I think this is a fantastic idea, I wish I could be there but it's quite a journey from CT to OK) I'll keep the ideas coming until you tell me to shut up.

What if instead of a canvas with drawings, it was a survivor's quilt? I truly don't know anything about quilting, or if we even have time to do one, but our local sexual assault coalition has asked for one, if survivors will create it.

I don't know much about quilting either. Never really stuck me as that hard. Maybe if each person made part? Hmm... what if you got a bunch of scrap fabric from a fabric store which normally comes dirt cheap and the survivors could stitch them together making a front and back, then stitch them together in three sides, stuff, then stitch the fourth side. The only problem is then having to connect all the pieces to each other to make the quilt. It could work, though, and it sends a good message of warmth. It may actually be less expensive to make the quilt than to do a drawing as far as supplies are concerned. Also, some people are less artistically inclined then others and you don't have to be an artist to do quilting. It's a really good idea.

Maybe each person could complete a same-size square with a design that represents their own journey to heal, and bring it. We could simply combine the various parts, which is also a profound symbol for the coming together of all of us, and produce a final whole.

I looked on the website and saw this and thought it sounded great, just a shame its not in the UK. Your post has really got me thinking about what I would want. It will be 5 years for me this summer and i think i do want to mark it in some way, i want to let go. There was (and still is to a certain extent) a real pull for me to go back to where it happened, but as it happened abroad that wouldn't be an easy thing to do, i'm not sure what this pull is about but I read somewhere that 'people always return to a place of heigthened emotions' I guess I just want to know its over. So to get to my point and answer your question I think maybe returning to those emotions and overcoming them in a safe place could be really therapuetic, for example doing something scary like sleeping out all night or absailing, doing some kind of trust excercises or doing some kind of endurance excercises like climbing a mountain. I have this kind of fantasy of climbing to the top of a moutain and letting go of a balloon, I'm not sure what the balloon represents yet. I also think that doing different types of relaxation excercises would be great as relaxing is something i think i struggle with. I also think that music can be really powerful and I think I would want lots of time just to talk and listen. I think I'm rambling now and its a beatiful day here in london so i need to get out so i will stop talking now sorry if these ideas are a bit random!

Is it definitely happening then? *fingers crossed*
Wish I could make it, but I'll just hope that once the first one has got off the ground someone will be inspired to do something similar in the UK.

It might be cheating, but for the quilt idea how about doing some kind of 'applique' idea where you start with a sheet of fabric in a neutral colour, and then people bring or create their own 'patches' or motifs to stitch onto it? Just a thought. Then it could finished properly as a quilt at the end.

Some kind of art workshop might be a good idea as well. One of my friends is getting all enthusiastic about the idea of land art at the moment, if you felt like doing something on that scale?

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-landart.html

An entire quilt in one weekend...that's ambitious lol
I used to live with a woman who quilted a lot and it took her sometime to complete one.
Perhaps if we did the squares and then someone assemble it?
But it's a cool idea and I'd love to see it work out somehow.

I went to a summer camp some years ago.
You see we have several indian tribes that used to come to my state and do a culture week thing. It was basically to teach little kids about indian tribes and tribal dances,clothing,language etc...

They had TONS of crafts we did like we made Little wall hanging things that had something we wished for written in the middle it was like a dream catcher. Mine said "family" but you could easily adjust that so we relate it to the retreat.
We also made unity sticks, which was kinda cool lol, Anyway Matt we did tons of crafts, message me if you'd like me to tell you about the other stuff...:)

My mother-in-law is a quilter. Hanging on her livingroom wall is a quilt she made in much the same fashion as you describe here Matt. The dimensions of the interior of the squares was shared amongst all of the family members, both here, and in the other states our family lives in. A fabric marker....one that is used to mark on fabrics that will be washed, was purchased by each family, and each person in the family wrote directly onto the fabric, their name, date of birth, a special scripture or sentence of inspiration, etc. Then, the squares were mailed back to my mother-in-law, who pieced them together with the actual quilt. Several of the people who contributed are no longer with us, so the specialness of the quilt is greater year by year.

Years ago, my husband and I traveled to his father's homeplace in West Virginia. We traveled through Alabama to get there. We made a purposeful stop in my mother-in-law's home place, and, we also traveled to Philadelphia, which is where I was born. In each of those places...as close to the actual birthplace as I could come, I gathered leaves. I chose leaves that were as flat as I could find. Then, I took the map that we used for our road trip, and I copied it onto parchment-style paper in brown ink. I used gold, bronze, and copper-leaf to coat each of the leaves, and I purchased a large wooden frame. Then, after each of the leaves dried, I used decoupage to attach the map to the matting on the frame, and I affixed the leaves inside the matting, and finished it with a poem I wrote to honor the journey we each made to arrive as family, because we really had no reason to ever meet in this huge world. Maybe we could each bring a leaf...and fashion a tree, signifying the spirit of unity we share, the strength of the bond - not unlike that of a tree that weathers the storms of life, and stands firm. I dunno....maybe that is fruity and silly....:)

Personally I'd go with a buddhist tradition of tieing pieces of cloth to a pole and sending prayers up through the wind.

Another idea that a colleague does with her pupils at a school is making an advertisement. Who I am! To advertise and inform what a peson who has been raped is by disputing the stereotypes. helping people to define themselves as they want to be received by others.

this sounds like a great idea but i have one question cuz im paranoid, how do we know there arent pervs on this site that now know about this and would show up. is there gunna be security or something?? i dont mean to be negative i was just wondering.