We (Alina Camiller and Jo Everett) are passionate artists and trauma-informed Art Therapists who have spent the past two years delivering creative healing programs with women and children affected by domestic violence and hardship through the Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre (WAGEC), Lou’s in addition to facilitating therapeutic workshops in Community Centres within our neighbourhoods in Sydney.

We have been invited to train with the internationally recognised Common Threads Program (CTP) in Maryland, USA. CTP’s “Story Cloth Circles” are gentle, trauma-informed textile groups that help people externalise their stories, build self-esteem, and create community connection.

Our training is scheduled for 8–12 December 2025 — and it only takes place once a year. On completion, we will be able to facilitate CTP circles under the umbrella of CTP in Australia, piloting them with partner organisations such as WAGEC and Barnardos. Each circle runs for 3–6 months with up to 15 participants and is supervised by CTP to ensure quality and fidelity.

We’re currently developing a grant application with Creative Australia to help cover facilitation costs for next year’s pilot circles. However, due to the tight deadline and the fact that the training occurs before the grant period begins, we can’t secure funding in time to cover this year’s training travel and accommodation costs.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to bring a proven, healing-centred program to Australia — but the upfront travel and accommodation costs for training are beyond our reach without support.

We’re raising funds not for personal travel, but to cover training-related expenses through our business entity so we can complete the training and launch the pilot program in Australia in 2026. All funds will go directly to this purpose.

Your contribution will:

Thank you for believing in creative, trauma-informed healing. Together we can build a bridge from Maryland to Sydney and beyond.

Keen to follow along…Join the adventure of COMMON THREADS PROJECT - AUSTRALIA on Instagram ….MWAH - thanks for all your help!!