The studio and the recovery work were always the same work. Trauma Ink is what happens when I stopped treating them as separate.
Background
- Experience
- 16 years across tattoo artistry, graphic design and community leadership.
- Certification
- Certified Peer Specialist (CPS).
- Current Studio Work
- Tattoo Artist at Enigma Tattoo Studio, St. Louis.
- Community Work
- House Manager at The Recovery House Program.
- Founded
- Trauma Ink LLC, blending tattoo artistry with mental health recovery work.
- Craft
- Blackwork, fine line, cover-ups.
Why This, Why Now
Every day in the recovery work, I watch people find language for things they couldn't say out loud any other way. Tattooing does something similar: it gives people a way to hold a story on their own terms. Trauma Ink is my attempt to put those two things in the same room on purpose, and to build something that can reach more people than one studio chair ever could.