OurMission & Values
SafeArt is an organization of trauma-informed practitioners who engage creative expression, mindfulness, movement, social action, and connection to the natural world. We promote community wellness, healing and social change in Central Vermont, the Upper Valley and beyond.
SafeArt envisions a world where the cycle of trauma has been broken, and where all people are free to create, express and connect.
We believe in the power of creative expression to grow resilience, foster re-connection, reimagine new ways forward and support the social change needed to interrupt the cycle of trauma. We facilitate healing and resilience on individual, family, community and societal levels because we understand the interconnection between trauma, abuse, oppression, and cultural and societal structures.
We define trauma as any held injury in body, mind, and soul, and know that most human beings hold some sort of trauma in need of healing. We have witnessed the power of art making in all disciplines, and trauma-informed training as beneficial for everyone.
We work with trauma survivors to engage with and transform traumatic injuries of all kinds.
We work with young people to inspire self-compassion, build healthy relationships, and grow resources.
We work with partners in the broader community to heal our shared trauma, develop self-care and collective-care practices, and become trauma-informed community members.
We engage visual arts, movement, writing, drama and music, as well as mindfulness, social action, and time spent in nature, because each of these modalities supports us to reconnect with our wholeness in unique ways.
We teach everyone we work with to understand trauma and the nervous system, because this knowledge nurtures compassion and empowers us all to better care for ourselves and each other.
All of our programming aims to be inclusive, trauma-informed and trauma-responsive.
Our Staff
Our staff are artists, creators, educators, and passionate about helping others with the freedom of creative expression.
Tracy Penfield (she/her) | Founder
Tracy founded SafeArt in 2000 after 20 years as an Artist and Educator in Fiber Arts and Dance. Her experience in an abusive relationship from the age of 14 to 29 gave her a distinctive perspective on how her students were responding to creative expression. Wanting to work across the spectrum of prevention to recovery from traumatic abuse gave rise to the concept of SafeArt.
In 2008, Altus Healing Arts opened as SafeArt’s home in Chelsea, Vermont. Tracy offers individual therapeutic sessions that combine energy healing, movement and voice in a process she developed, called Tracing. Tracy also teaches yoga, dance, weaving and mindfulness. In 2016, Tracy published A Curriculum of Courage: Making SafeArt, and has taken the book on tour in the Northeast.
Tracy believes in the power of the arts to create personal and social change.
Contact Tracy: tpenfield5@gmail.com
Our Board
The members of our board of directors bring a unique set of skills and expertise to our organization.
