A therapy program that uses photography to help those affected by violence and abuse is offering support to women in New Brunswick.
Award-winning photographer Maurice Henri launched Cameras for Healing while working with victims of abuse in Africa.
He has since brought the program back home to Canada.
“The camera becomes their voice. It is as simple as that,” he said.
“Trauma affects how you think, how you feel, how you see the world and how you see yourself. And of course, it affects how you are going to move on to better yourself, to raise your children, to do whatever and we start simply by taking one photograph.”
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The goal is to help women open up about their trauma through the lens, by taking photographs that show what they cannot put into words.
Michelle Geldart is taking part in the program and hopes the camera will help her compose her thoughts and overcome some of her emotional pain.
She was a victim of human trafficking when she was younger and turned to drugs and alcohol.
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“I had been taken from one city to another and was involved in the sex trade,” she said.
“I felt like I was in a ditch where I was trying to climb up the sides of the mud and I just kept sliding downward.”
Geldart plans to expand Cameras for Healing to communities across the country in order to help even more people.
— With files from Shelley Steeves
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