Before my pursuit of a nursing degree, I spent fourteen years helping manage and operate the non-profit organization Mosaic Multicultural Foundation. Mosaic is a small community organization established and directed by storyteller, author, and mythologist Michael Meade. Mosaic was a unique place to work and we were actively engaged in bringing communities together through creative ceremonies. Our emphasis was on reconnecting people to ancient stories while providing a deeper understanding of their own personal stories. 

During my time at Mosaic, I was involved with many community resource projects. Two projects that had a strong impact on my growth and development included Voices of Youth and Voices of Veterans. I helped to organize, staff, plan, and promote four Voices of Veteran retreats and at least twenty Voices of Youth projects.

Voices of Youth - an ongoing project that brought Mosaic to diverse communities where youth explore their unique voices through poetry and story. We would work intensively in local neighborhoods with a core group of youth for four to five days working on language and story; helping young people connect and discover their own innate authentic voice. These workshops would then culminate in a public presentation where community members would come and witness these young raw voices. 
           More information can be found here on Mosaic's website

Voices of Veterans - brought together veterans and their family members into a four-day retreat wherein veterans sought ways to find meaningful and healing ways to carry the trauma experienced from war. It was through these retreats that I learned about the old idea of initiation as a process that changes a person completely. It was through these retreats and the public community gathering that these veterans could find a piece of their return from war. 
       More information can be found here on Mosaic's website