Meet Kristel Nielsen of Your Art Your Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristel Nielsen.

Kristel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2015, my son died of suicide. I went to counseling and support groups, but I wished for more community support. I started Your Art Your Story to do something to support loss survivors, especially young children. In July 2017, I read an article about an art program in Wyoming for people affected by suicide and depression. It really inspired me, and I wanted to start one in Phoenix, so I called the director of the program, Diane Harrop, and we talked for about an hour. During that conversation, she told me about a call she received from a grandmother in Phoenix raising her granddaughter after her daughter’s suicide death. The grandmother read the same article and wondered if there was a program in Phoenix. That was all I needed to hear. Someday, I hope I get to meet that grandmother and granddaughter.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My biggest challenge was facing my fear of telling my story in public. Suicide is a difficult subject to talk about and there is so much stigma. Last fall, I entered the Venture Devils competition at ASU to see if there would be community support, and we won seed money to start up. Soon after, we partnered with the Arizona Artists Guild and developed an art program for suicide survivors. After that, everything fell into place. Our first workshop was in February 2018.

Your Art Your Story – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Your Art Your Story is a nonprofit and our mission is to empower and connect people who are affected by suicide through art and community. We offer free art workshops that are guided by professional artists. This is not art therapy or tradition support group. The workshops are relaxed and casual and everyone gets to make a work of art and take it home. We have more information on our website and a link to sign up.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
With community support, Your Art Your Story has many exciting possibilities for growth. The most important thing we can do is let people know they are not alone. If we do that, we have been successful. Eventually, we hope to reduce stigma and change the public conversation about suicide, but this will take time. The ultimate measure of our success is to save lives. Preventing future suicides is the greatest success we could hope for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yourartyourstory.org
• Email: kristel.nielsen@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourartyourstory/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yourartyourstory/
• Other: http://www.arizonaartistsguild.net

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.