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‘Healing Trauma Through The Arts’ to use art, music for healing

STATE COLLEGE — Sexual abuse counselor Vicky Kepler Didato believes therapy is essential to survivors healing the wounds inflicted by such crimes. But that doesn’t mean just sitting on a sofa working through what happened.

“When we use the word ‘therapy’ most people mean talk therapy. And that’s necessary,” says Didato, founder and director of the Child Sexual Abuse Institute of Ohio.

“But trauma is stored in the right brain. To get to what we call healing, you have got to access the right brain. The five senses do that: sight, sound, taste, touch or scent. Art, music, dance, body movement are wonderful access points. It allows you to transfer over from the left brain to the right brain,” she continued.

Didato will put that concept into practice as keynote speaker at this year’s Oasis Conference for sexual abuse and assault survivors on Nov. 16 to 17 at State College Alliance Church.

“Healing Trauma Through the Arts” will include a gallery of artworks created by survivors, live music by Steve Siler of Music for the Soul (Nashville, Tenn.), and hands-on art activities for attendees in addition to informative workshops for men and women, as well as sexual abuse and sexual assault survivors sharing their stories.

“This is our fourth Oasis, and we’ve always brought in dynamic Christian speakers to help survivors on many levels of their healing journeys,” says Sue Margolis, one of the event’s organizers.

“When we went to a conference in Ohio led by Vicky Didato, we were amazed and inspired. And when we found out she was from this area and loves this community, we knew she was a perfect fit,” Margolis said.

Didato grew up in State College and attended Penn State, where her father, Don Kepler, was a baseball coach.

“My heart is for that region. It still feels like my home. I have very strong ties to long-lasting friendships and family in the region and I’m a proud — and always will be — Penn Stater,” says Didato, who counts 37 relatives in her extended family with a Penn State degree. “In 1982 one of the proudest moments of my life occurred. I walked across a stage at the College of Human Development at Penn State to receive the Outstanding Alumni Recognition Award after the publication of my book “One In Four”, written to expose the plight of sexually abused children in this country.”

Receiving recognition for a book on that particular subject at that particular university now carries with it a special weight, as Didato says she hopes to help the continued healing of a community through this conference.

“I think healing comes in waves, so people think that they’ve dealt with something from the past and then an event occurs in the present,” she says. “It can be the #metoo movement or the cover-ups in the Catholic church, or most recently the focus on the Kavanugh hearings, and it just starts all over.”

The survivors’ art gallery will be open to the public in the church’s vestibule both days. There will be a short program Friday evening, followed by a full slate of workshops and seminars on Saturday.

“You can access emotions just by using a picture, a poem, a sculpture,” Didato says. “I think people will be blown away by the power of the art.”

To register for Oasis, visit scalliancechurch.com/events/2018/11/16/oasis-2018.

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