Suffolk mother and Navy veteran Chelsie Brown is helping others heal through adult art classes this August.

The art classes will be held from 10:45 to about 11:45 a.m. on upcoming Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout August at the art studio, located at 147 N. Main St. Registrants will pay $1 per class or $4 for the entire four-week session.

These art therapy classes will focus on “the initial tragedy/challenge,” according to Brown’s Facebook page. She said the plan is for registrants over the age of 15 to make collages and art journals in a mellow and judgment-free space to share their pain and make steps toward self-improvement.

“I feel like it’s a great outlet and it can really help people,” Brown said in a phone interview, adding that it’s “good for the soul.” “I like to be creative, and I’m hoping my creativity and other people’s creativity can just work together in the healing process.”

Brown used her creativity to move past her own life-changing ordeal back in July 2010 and the years of recovery that followed. A drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned her car, and she was put into a medically-induced coma for two and a half weeks with extensive injuries, according to her blog.

She received inpatient care at three different Virginia hospitals in the span of two months and had to keep a regimen of physical, outpatient and speech therapies afterwards. She adjusted to physical limitations on the left side of her body while being a stay-at-home mother for her girls, Audrey, 12, Kaylin, 9, and 6-year-old Maylani, who was born after the accident.

On her blog, she wrote that she started going back to church to find that missing piece in her life, and in the Tuesday phone interview, she explained how far she’s come in the eight years since the accident. Her motor functions have drastically improved, and she’s supported by her children and her husband, Shawn Brown.

But the hardest part is simply to get started, which is why she’s providing a space for others to begin to heal creatively.

“It’s just made me into a stronger person. I know what my limitations are and I know how far I can push myself, and I can push myself pretty far,” she said.

Search for “The Healing Power” Facebook group online for more information, or send an email to thehealingpower2018@gmail.com.