From Trauma to Triumph: Funding the Sliver Lining

Funding my Sliver lining. Help a Queer Latina-Indian Artist Bring Healing to the Caribbean.

Hi, I’m Sabrina Ahmed Rodriguez— a queer, mixed-race Latina-Indian first-generation New Yorker, expressive artist, trauma survivor, and future therapist.

In April 2025, I buried my mother — a loss I am still honoring. Days later, I received an email that changed my life:

I had been accepted into my dream graduate program — the Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, starting in June.

This June, I can begin a life-changing journey at the European Graduate School in Switzerland to earn my Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy. But I need your help to get there — I must raise $20,000 for tuition and program costs, with $10,000 needed by May 12th.

My Story

After surviving a brutal assault in 2017 and years of complex family abuse, I found myself in therapy but unable to speak. My voice had vanished. My trauma was stuck in my body and silence.

I found my way back to myself — not through traditional therapy alone, but through art, movement, poetry, and performance.

My therapist gently invited me into art therapy. At first, I thought I had to be “good” at it. But through her unwavering support, I discovered something life-changing:

I didn’t need perfection — just honesty.

And slowly, color by color, brushstroke by brushstroke, I began to return to myself.

That moment lit the path I walk today:

To bring healing to others through creative expression, movement, art, and ritual — especially to those who have been silenced too long.

Why This Campaign Matters

I'm committed to serving women, LGBTQIA+ folks, youth, and elders across the Caribbean. Alongside a powerful collective of women therapists in Puerto Rico, I’m helping launch the first Caribbean-based expressive arts therapy association to expand access to trauma-informed, culturally rooted healing.

But the European Graduate School doesn’t qualify for U.S. federal loans, and traditional lenders won’t fund international programs like this. Despite applying for scholarships and grants, I must now rely on the community that’s held me this far.

How Your Support Helps:

Every dollar brings me closer to the classroom — and to the communities I’m preparing to serve.

Give & Receive – Gratitude Tiers

To honor your support, I’m offering heartfelt gifts for donors:

This Is More Than School — It’s a Movement

You’re not just helping me attend grad school. You’re investing in the transformation of Caribbean mental health care, in art that liberates, in therapy that empowers, and in women of color reclaiming ancestral tools to heal ourselves and each other.

If you’ve ever felt the power of art or movement to help you through pain, then you know what I’m fighting for.

Thank you for standing with me.

Please donate, share, and be part of this dream.

With gratitude,

Sabrina