Joseph Raines credits art for saving his life. The Amherst resident has spent decades creating and teaching art with the goal of helping others experience its benefits.
It all started in a very dark place as he discovered art in an abusive foster home, Raines said. Despite that, he sees this discovery as a form of divine intervention.
"The first time that I drew, I lived with a farmer in a foster home, and he would hit me all the time," Raines said. "He was terribly abusive. But one day, I found a brown paper sack and a pencil, and I lay down next to his recliner and began drawing and, divine intervention, believe it or not. How do you explain where I began and where I'm at? I don't know how else to explain it."
Art's role in healing from trauma makes sense, said Sharon Nahra, a board-certified art therapist and licensed professional clinical counselor.
“People are feeling so many types of feelings of fear and anger and blame, guilt, shame," she said. "Those feelings, they have to go somewhere, and art is a safe, healthy outlet. You're able to kind of release it onto paper.”
Teaching from experience
Beyond creating art, Raines has also taught the subject. He currently teaches a group of mostly retirees in Lorain County, and previously spent a decade as a middle school art teacher in Monticello, Kentucky.
He said teaching has helped him heal — not only from childhood abuse, but from losing the middle school teaching job in 2002 because of budget cuts. Three years later, he lost his life savings due to medical costs from a brain tumor diagnosis.
But the motivation for teaching came, in part, from what he suffered from as a child, Raines said.
“I don't hurt children," he said. "I protect them, and I could teach them. If I can save a child from harm, from where I came from, I'm going to do it.”
One example is Juliet McFarland, who teaches at Wayne County Middle School in Monticello, Kentucky. Raines helped her build confidence in her artistic ability, and in herself, she said.
“He kind of took me and others under his wing and really harnessed our potential," McFarland said. "He just built a rapport with students."
She credited Raines with her decision to become an art teacher. Other students were inspired by Raines, McFarland said, as more than 100 maintain a private Facebook page dedicated to his positive influence on their lives.
Raines continues to teach retirees like Linda Alverez, 69, from North Ridgeville. Alverez started working with Raines more than two years ago, learning how to draw realistic pictures of her grandchildren.
“I'm the person who finishes the drawing, and then I have to kiss it and say, ‘This goes to my grandkids when I'm no longer here.’ They're my world," she said.
Even now, Raines said the art has an effect on him.
"It's incredible, to be honest with you," he said of Alverez's art. "I get a little emotional, because every one of her grandchildren, you can see her in them and she says she doesn't believe me, but I see parts of her in every one of them. It's a beautiful thing."
The two now work on complicated oil paintings together.
Art therapy and counseling
Despite the power of art to heal trauma, it may not be enough on its own, Nahra noted.
“There's still that trauma," she said. "You’re creating a new normal. People find different ways to heal, and you need to find healthy ways to move forward.”
For example, therapists will often combine art therapy with other forms of counseling, Nahra said.
"Myself and other therapists usually incorporate elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) into our art interventions," she said in an email exchange. "The goals of the interventions to help with reframing/shifting our mindset as well as helping to process/regulate emotions."
CBT involves changing thinking and behavioral patterns. DBT is a form of talk therapy, like CBT, for people who have trouble controlling their emotions.
But for Raines, art alone has changed his perspective.
"Life is amazing at every moment," he said. "I don't take things for granted. Life is beautiful, every inch of it — even the bad."
