One of the first things that catches your attention inside Eagles' Haven Wellness Center in Coral Springs is the grid of 17 hearts in the building's reception area. Each heart represents and honors the 17 students, teachers and coach killed in the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School:
Alyssa Alhadeff, Scott Beigel, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Chris Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup and Peter Wang.
Their different personalities, dreams and life stories symbolized with unique colors, patterns and backgrounds.
The facility feels like an art museum as much as a sanctuary for healing.
At Eagles' Haven, art is the portal into the journey of healing from trauma. Not just looking at the beautiful pieces hung on the hallway and office walls, but creating it, too.
"This room — I like to say— is where all the fun happens," said assistant director Melissa Michelin, "and where the healing happens."
This Saturday, staff and community members will honor the 17 victims of the school massacre during the "Forever in Our Hearts 8th Commemoration," an annual memorial to the Parkland tragedy.
Over the past eight years, countless people have come through the wellness room. It's a multipurpose space used for art, yoga, meditation classes, sound therapy and more.
"Sometimes when people come in, they don't want to talk," said director Rebecca Jarquin. By offering support groups, creative outlets or guided exercise, "they can get the support they need in a non-traditional way."
The center is run by the Jewish Adoption And Family Care Options, or JAFCO. Since it opened in 2019, its mission has been to honor the lives of the victims and survivors, rediscover wellness and restore hope through family strengthening services, wellness experiences, crisis support and support groups.
On one recent afternoon, the activities revolved around painting heart-shaped jewelry plates.
Staff from the center and a student sat around a table as they painted the small dishes. Using a craft heat tool, they blew the alcohol ink to make a marbled effect.
Josephine Haim is a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. She began coming around last summer.
" I think I went to, like, many classes as I could [in the summer], but then during the school year, I just come when I have time," she said.
She focused on making her jewelry plate a thing of beauty, saturating the inside bowl in pink and lining the rim in gold. Every now and then she spoke to chat with Eagles' Haven staff about school — being on the softball team and playing in band.
The painting is an example of haptic therapy, Jarquin said, a form of neurological, physical and psychological, healing through physical techniques and even vibrations (like sound therapy) to reduce stress, manage anxiety and treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Trauma is a psychological scar," Jarquin said. "So we can talk about something extreme, like a mass shooting, but we could also talk about something like a divorce or talk about somebody who moved from a different state and is having a really difficult transition into the culture in South Florida — that might be traumatic for a child."
What may be traumatic for one person is not for another, she explained.
"We don't qualify what trauma is for you," she noted. "We will meet anybody where they are."
Jarquin added that the center sees an increase in attendees in the months of January and February as the solemn date approaches.
"Although the inception of Eagles Haven came out of the tragic shooting — we still do see people impacted by the shooting even eight years later — we will serve anybody impacted by trauma," she said.
Find information about the Eagles' Haven Wellness Center here.
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