We Are the Movement: 2026 WSCADVSA Conference

Advocates will create their own Medicine Shield in this hands-on workshop. Medicine Shields have long served as symbols of protection and strength within Native traditions, including all cultures. This session invites participants to discuss how incorporating cultural practices like this one into their work can support resilience, self-care, and a deeper, more culturally responsive connection to the communities they serve. 

Limit 25 participants. All are welcome, but we particularly encourage Native advocates and advocates who work primarily with Native survivors to join this session.

This workshop will be presented in Spanish with limited English interpretation available.

Arte, Sanación y Esperanza: Construyendo una Comunidad Más Allá de la Violencia 
Grupo de Apoyo para Mujeres Rurales de YWCA WW
Este taller explora cómo la creatividad y el arte pueden apoyar a las sobrevivientes de violencia doméstica y agresión sexual en su camino hacia la sanación, la conexión y el fortalecimiento personal.

Guiadas por el personal y Promotoras de YWCA, los participantes tendrán la oportunidad de crear arte en un espacio de apoyo, utilizando la expresión artística como una forma de:

• Fomentar la conexión, el sentido de pertenencia y la expresión personal
• Crear un espacio seguro y confidencial para la sanación
• Honrar las experiencias, fortalezas y resiliencia de cada sobreviviente
• Apoyar a las sobrevivientes mientras imaginan y construyen una nueva vida libre de violencia

Juntas, crearemos obras de arte que reflejen el espíritu de pertenencia y que recuerden a quienes con demasiada frecuencia no son vistas o escuchadas que importan, que sus voces importan y que pertenecen a nuestra comunidad. Este es un camino hacia la construcción de una vida libre de violencia, basada en la esperanza, la conexión y la comunidad. La esperanza es comunidad. Juntas somos más fuertes.

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Art, Healing & Hope: Building Community Beyond Violence
YWCA WW Rural Women’s Support Group
This workshop explores how creativity and art can support survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault on their journey toward healing, connection, and empowerment.

Guided by YWCA staff and Promotoras, participants engage in a supportive group experience where creating art becomes a pathway to:

• Foster connection, belonging, and self-expression

• Create a safe and confidential space for healing

• Honor each survivor’s experiences, strengths, and resilience

• Support survivors as they envision and build a new life beyond violence

Together, we will create artwork that reflects the spirit of belonging and reminds those who are too often unseen or unheard that they matter, their voices matter, and they belong. This is a journey toward building a life without violence—one grounded in hope, connection, and community. Hope is community. Together, we are stronger.

Who helped shape your journey into this work? What wisdom do you carry? What do you hope others inherit from you?

Join us for a creative, story-centered workshop where we'll reflect, connect, and contribute to a collaborative art project honoring the many people, experiences, and communities that make up this movement. Together we'll explore how storytelling and collective creativity cultivate belonging across generations of advocates while helping create a living expression of our shared movement that will continue to evolve throughout the conference.