Jan Goff-LaFontaine is a social worker, photographer and author whose ongoing work is dedicated to creating awareness and healing through her art.
Jan has published two books in her pursuit of helping others to heal. Her first book,
Reflections Between the Lines; The Healing of the Vietnam Generation examines the post-war experiences of 55 women and men who served in Vietnam.
Her most recent book,
Women in Shadow and Light; Journeys From Abuse to Healing, was awarded Book Of The Year in Women’s Issues by the Independent Publisher’s Association, and was a finalist for the prestigious Nautilus Awards. In this powerful book, Jan focuses on the healing journeys of women who are survivors of sexual and physical abuse. In this book, she helps women to see and celebrate their beauty, and discover their strength, both through the interviews and the beautiful black and white portraits she created for each woman as an expression of their healing.
When
Women in Shadow and Light was released, Jan began getting requests from women all over the country to create ‘healing portraits’ for them, as she had for the women in her book. After doing this for several women, and seeing the powerful effect the process has in helping women to heal, Jan started pondering how she might be able to offer this service to help even more women.
This led to the creation of her
Healing Through Creativity workshops designed to support abuse survivors and those who work with them, such as advocates and counselors. In this workshop Jan works with one of the women from the book, Jeanne Kuhns - singer, songwriter, painter and Registered Nurse, who has written several songs specifically for these workshops. Through a series of meditations and journaling exercises, Jan guides the women in these workshops to a place where she can create healing portraits for each woman.
After discovering that it was not just abuse survivors who had body image issues and were unable to see their beauty, this workshop evolved into doing retreats for women titled
Manifest Your Magic. The creation of essence or healing portraits for each woman is still a major component of these retreats, but they also include lots of deep sharing, laughter, fun and chocolate! And they are held in magical places as well, like the next one, in Hawaii.
Jan believes that every woman, no matter what her age or dress size, is beautiful; she sees all women through this lens, and her portraits reflect that. She feels that we can hold a new vision of who we are and what our lives can be, and experience in our bodies the healing power we have within. Her goal is to help women discover how our past wounds can become doorways through which we emerge as whole, healed and a gift to the world. She loves helping women to heal, and to live life from a sensual place, allowing more passion, awe, joy, and gratitude.
Be sure to subscribe or follow this blog for your chance to win a copy of Jan's book,
Women in Shadow and Light; Journeys From Abuse to Healing!
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