Description:
This presentation, by Merna Hecht, MA is an excerpt from ORR’s 2022 Survivor of Torture Annual Community of Practice Symposium, “Reimaginings: Storytelling and Poetry for Navigating Loss and Hope.” The symposium was convened virtually by The Center for Victims of Torture and The Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, supported by The Office of Refugee Resettlement on September 15, 2022.
The Presenter:
Merna Hecht, MA
Merna Hecht is a teaching artist, nationally known storyteller, published poet, and essayist. She founded and co-directs the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project at one of the most linguistically diverse high schools in the country. The project brings refugee and immigrant stories to wide community visibility. For over twenty-five years, she has worked with youth experiencing grief and trauma. She has undertaken volunteer work in Greece and Germany with refugee women and children who were navigating multiple losses. In her early career, she traveled to rural Idaho schools with her puppet theater and puppetry continues in several current projects. Her past work includes expressive arts projects at BRIDGES: A Center for Grieving Children in Tacoma; the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center School in Seattle; youth detention centers, in-patient youth psychiatric settings and work with homeless youth. She holds certificates of completion from the NYC Creative Center Hospital Artist in Residence Program and the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
Merna presented on “Reimaginings: Storytelling and Poetry for Navigating Loss and Hope”, featuring Mariyam Faizi and Muna Adid.
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