Angel Faces Retreats Facilitate Emotional Healing for Women Disfigured by Trauma
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Since 2003, the nonprofit Angel Faces has helped transform the lives of adolescents and young women who have suffered severe, permanent scars and disfigurements from burn injuries and traumatic events through intensive, residential retreats, and ongoing support.
Founder Lesia Cartelli was severely burned by a natural gas explosion when she was just 9 years old, and as an adult, she recognized the psychosocial needs of adolescent girls and young women with disfigurements.
The next retreat takes place June 11-16 on a private compound (courtesy of an anonymous donor) on lake Winnipesaukee in beautiful Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
The theme for this retreat is “Let it Roll,” and sessions led by licensed mental health professionals will focus on managing healthy relationships, boundaries, post traumatic growth and understanding the impact of trauma on our lives.
Professional artist Kate Lemay will lead an art project, “Let It Scroll,” during which participants will create beautiful scrolls on canvas decorated with both words of forgiveness for their past selves and motivational messages for their budding, future selves.
Additional program elements include yoga, climbing and journaling, plus one-on-one instruction from professionals in the cosmetics industry to teach the women how to minimize scarring while enhancing their individual beauty.
“Our six-day retreat is a unique gathering of women who have been left marred by severe trauma (abuse, car crashes, bonfires, explosions, war and house fires) to find the courage to heal,” Cartelli said. “We encourage the participants to not waste their pain, and to use their trauma as a gift to discover their resilience and strength. Time at the retreat is inspiring for attendees and those who are privy to volunteer.”
Angel Faces Founder Lesia S. Cartelli has witnessed and experienced the struggle with social interactions, boundaries, and self-esteem issues that plague adolescent girls and young women with scars. In her 40 years of experience in developing educational and psychosocial programs supporting trauma victims, she became aware of the intense need for a more in-depth program. She created Angel Faces to inspire and empower adolescent girls and young women with burn/trauma injuries to reach their optimum potential and develop meaningful relationships with themselves, their families and their communities.
Cartelli is also the author of Heart of Fire (Carlyle Publishing; ISBN-13: 978-0990430711), in which she shares the details of her own traumatic experience and the path that led to her founding of Angel Faces.
For more information and a schedule of 2022 retreats, please visit www.angelfaces.com, or follow the organization on Instagram and Twitter at @angelfacesinc.
Trish Stevens Beverly Moore Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
Ashley Samson Trish Stevens Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 Phone: (760) 213-8005 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Angel Faces® — You Will Never Forget Their Courageous Stories
We live in a society of selfies and status postings; how you look can dramatically affect your self-esteem more than ever before. But add to that being mauled by a raccoon, or left for dead in a horrific house fire, and it can be a living hell. The physical and emotional scars can be unbearable when you are faced with the cruelty of the world. But there’s hope…
Burn survivor Lesia Cartelli is sharing her experience and helping girls navigate the permanent disfigurement left from traumatic injuries. The stares, unwanted questions and rejection are the reality this special group of survivors deals with on a daily basis.
Lesia knows this is true because she lived through it herself. Her desire to heal from a natural gas explosion at age nine that left her seriously burned over 50% of her face and body, encouraged her to create Angel Faces® for girls and women who suffer disfigurements from traumatic injuries. This year, two retreats will be held concurrently in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, on June 16 – 23, 2019.
Over thirty adolescent and young women (ages 13-26) with disfiguring traumas will come together on a private compound on Lake Winnipesaukee to heal. They come from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada, and their stories will tug at the hearts of your audience.
During the multi-day retreats, survivors hear first-hand from Cartelli about her injuries and methods she used to recover. Through role-playing, the girls learn strategies on how to handle staring, teasing and intrusive questions, and during daily yoga, art therapy, lake play and intensive sessions, the participants begin to let their social armor down. The truth of the effect of their trauma is exposed so they can begin to heal. Licensed psychologists and clinical cosmetic professionals are also on hand to lead groups.
“Our retreats are only the first component to healing,” Cartelli explains. “Seeing our participants realize they are not the ‘burned or disfigured girl;’ they are a daughter, sister, a good soccer player, etc., first. Their trauma is an experience (a reservoir within themselves they can now access for courage), but it’s not who they are. I hear from their families or medical centers that referred them that after they return home with the tools they learned at the retreat, they are much more confident and self-assured in the real world—ending their social death. Now that gets me excited!”
Her own experiences on the long road to healing inspired Lesia to write a book as a way of helping others in their journey. Heart of Fire demonstrates how to discover blessings and gifts within any challenge, and the importance of opening our hearts to deeply heal what blocks our life’s pathway. In her book, Lesia also teaches the power of embracing our fears—something she did herself at age thirty-three when she faced her fear of fire and suited up in full firefighting gear to enter a burning building known as a “control burn.” A beautiful side note to the story is that after she conquered her fear, she married the fire captain who actually led her into the fire.
Angel Faces®, founded in 2003, is a non-profit organization headquartered in Encinitas, CA, whose mission is to provide healing retreats and ongoing support for adolescent girls and young women with severe and permanent disfigurement from burn/trauma injuries so they may achieve their optimum potential and develop meaningful relationships for themselves, their families, and their communities.
For more information, please visit the Angel Faces website at www.angelfaces.com.
