BOSTON — This summer, the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI) was instrumental in helping the community heal from the impact of homicide during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing 50, free Peace Play in Urban Setting Kits to families, youth groups, religious institutions, and community-based organizations that were impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss. COVID-19 has laid bare the need for increased community outreach, as the rate of homicides continue to rise.
“Since the pandemic started, we’ve heard the negative impact social distancing and grief have had on our community,” said Heather Dabreu, advocate at the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. “And so, we’ve developed a plan that safely and effectively meets the needs of the community.”
Peace Play in Urban Settings is a healing modality that the LDBPI has used for 11 years to help families and individuals impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss become the architect of their healing journey. Recognizing the positive impact it can have on the community, as a whole, the LDBPI has expanded the Program’s reach to include additional groups and organizations as well as future plans to sell the Kits. As expressed by Peace Play participants Marisa and Cagen Luse, “It’s important to play. It is also important to bring this healing tool to any space you need to process, practice, and find peace.”
Adopted from Sandtray Worldplay as taught by Gisela Schubach DeDomenico, Ph.D, Peace Play in Urban Settings is a healing technique for individuals, families, and communities. This technique invites participants to create a world that represents the feelings and emotions they may not have language for, by creating scenes using miniature figures in a tray of sand. To get started, participants were provided with sand, trays, miniature figures and a self-guided workbook. The Peace Play in Urban Settings project was made possible by funding from the MGH Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP), the MGH Center for Gun Violence Prevention Mother’s Day Walk for Peace team led by Cindy Diggs and (partially) supported by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA) through a Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, and U.S. Department of Justice.
“Social distancing is difficult, in general, then add in processing the ongoing grief, trauma and institutional racism,” said Cindy Diggs, peace commissioner and founder of Peace Boston. These Kits will serve as another way to empower members of our community to heal in the comfort and the safety of their space.”
“I feel that everyone grieves in different directions. I thought that after more than 26 years of loving my nephew, I was at a place where I had finally begun the process of getting to a place of peace and acceptance. I am now free. I am starting a new path of how do I learn to grieve again,” said Julia Thompson, Peace Play participant.
For more information about Peace Play in Urban Settings, please visit https://www.LDBpeaceinstitute.org/peace-play-in-urban-settings/ or call (617) 825-1917.
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About The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, founded in 1994, is a center of healing, teaching, and learning for families and communities impacted by murder, trauma, grief and loss. The vision of the Peace Institute is to create and sustain communities where all people are valued and all families can live in peace. The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s programs and services are grounded in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) social-ecological framework that interventions are needed at multiple levels to interrupt cycles of violence. The heart of their work is with families impacted by murder on both sides. Their impact extends to community and society through services, advocacy and training.