“If something doesn’t ‘feel’ right, that’s because it isn’t. Trust your instincts.” That’s the advice a domestic violence victim served by YWCA Central Alabama has for others who wonder if they are in unhealthy relationships.

Her statement was part of a project during a recent art therapy class led by Marlyse Hirschy, a counselor at the YW. The class allows victims to “share the hope, strength, beauty, and ways of coping that they have created out of their broken places,” Hirschy said.