The Westfield Promise Path to Healing:
The Westfield Promise Program 

For thousands of years and across cultures, labyrinths were designed to symbolize a hard path toward God, when reaching the center they felt a spiritual connection to nature and the spirit world.  Labyrinths continue to be used for spiritual purposes, providing a safe space for people to "find themselves" by following a path to the center and then finding their way back.  Labyrinths are also used as walking meditations to help calm anxiety, promote self-reflection and reduce stress.  The labyrinth is important to the greater Westfield community as a place for people to heal, meditate, and help their overall mental health.  Our Westfield Promise class decided to build a labyrinth on the grounds of Westfield High School.  We have been working to host major fundraising events, such as the Great Pumpkin Music Festival and a Raffle Basket Fundraiser at Take Charge Nutrition.  We have completed research about labyrinths, generated design ideas for the project, and are working with our WHS community along with WSU.  We spoke to the Westfield School Committee and are presenting at the WHS Health and Wellness Fair in order to educate our peers about the project.  We have participated in workshops with certified labyrinth facilitators, created small scale labyrinths, and are currently working on designing and engineering our final project with groundbreaking in May/June.  We want the labyrinth to speak to the hearts and minds of the community.  The labyrinth and this project are a journey that requires patience.  Our hope is that students of WHS and the general public will find it as a helpful tool to guide them through their healing.