Children at Orphanage in Peru
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Nicole and I am fundraising for the children and teenagers living at the Amantaní orphanage in Cusco, Peru.
Children living at this orphanage were separated from their birth family because of the trauma they experienced at home. Some of these children will get adopted by adoptive parents from Peru or abroad. Others will never get adopted and have to live at the orphanage until they age out. Because of their adverse childhood experiences (such as abuse, neglect, or witnessing violence), many of these children will suffer from various trauma-based symptoms, behaviours, thoughts and feelings. These children are often misunderstood or labelled as difficult or problematic children because of their challenging behaviours. Thus, their pain is overlooked, and they do not receive the emotional support they need.
As an international adoptee from Peru myself, I know what it feels like to grow up as a child/teen with mental health issues without emotional support. After working on my own healing as an adult, I have made it my life purpose to help support traumatized children and teens so that they don't have to be alone with their pain. Today, as a trained clinician with 5+ years of experience specializing in trauma and attachment work, my heart feels pulled back to my roots in Peru in order to support these children.
I will be offering my counselling services to the children at Amantaní from October 2022 to April 2023. My overall goal is to provide them with an opportunity to process their trauma through Play and Art Therapy. Another important goal is to create workshops and presentations for the staff working at the orphanage so that they can learn how to best support the children in a trauma-informed and attachment-informed way.
Your donations will be used in the following way:
- to buy materials for Art Therapy (including coloured pencils, crayons, watercolour, brushes, paper, chalk pastels, oil pastels etc.) and Play Therapy (including kinetic sand, sand figurines, puppets, stuffies, stress balls etc.).
- to create and facilitate workshops in Spanish for the public to raise people's awareness about the impact of trauma on a child's nervous system, attachment and sense of self.
- to develop & facilitate counselling sessions/programs with individualized treatment plans tailored to the specific needs of each individual child/teen in need of support.
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This is my first step towards my bigger dream of creating a Children's Foundation in Cusco, Peru, where various Peruvian clinicians would support all traumatized children in orphanages with free long-term emotional support.
I will do everything within my power to make this happen one day. :)
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your interest and support!
Nicole Gfeller, MA, RPC, MPCC
Counsellor, Art Therapist, Expressive Arts Therapist
Organizer
Nicole Gfeller
Organizer
Vancouver, BC