The Westman Youth for Christ offer a range of programs to help young people with some of the tough things in life, in growing up in oftentimes a harsh society that isn't always gentle when it comes to our teenagers.

Dawn Redlin facilitates the art therapy program, Create, which takes place on Monday afternoons and Tuesday evenings in a group setting.  Redlin herself is an artist and was called to share her passion for art with the young people she works with.

"It all started through prayer," shares Redlin. "I was meeting with some other staff, and they were saying, 'I wish we had something where youth could express themselves through art' because we often have youth in our programs who are quite artistic but don't have access to supplies or space to do art projects, and so that's kind of where this came from. God just told me, 'You can do this!'"

That's how the Westman YFC's Create program started in 2019 starting with Tuesday evenings at their Rosser Avenue location.  Just in the last year they've expanded the program to include the Monday afternoons with the therapeutic art.

Monday afternoon, the program is called 'Creative Cafe' where participants can have a snack and work on their art projects from 1:30-4 pm.  On Tuesday evenings, the staff provides a full meal for the youth and all leftovers go home with the participants.  The entire evening runs from 6:30-9 pm.

"The program is expanding but unfortunately we need funding to do that," adds Redlin.

The Westman YFC will be hosting their second annual art exhibition and sale at the Firehouse Event Venue in Brandon on May 23-24th.  The theme this year is Be Bold where colors, lines and textures must be BOLD so this exhibition will be most exciting to see what everyone will come up with.  The Create participants will also be sharing their work at the exhibition.

Please listen to more with Dawn Redlin below as she shares more on the Create program!

For more information on the Create program, contact Dawn Redlin at the Westman Youth for Christ office in Brandon.

Dawn Redlin, providing care & compassion for others through Creative Programming supports.

Therapeutic Art Coach/Creative Journeys Program Director

Brandon and Area Youth for Christ

204-727-1251 (p)

204-727-4262 (f)

dawn@wyfc.ca