This April we welcomed in Bulgaria an amazing American couple, who came to join a Bread Therapy session at the Day Center for people with special needs in the town of Sandanski and get hands-on training. This is the story of the couple: our long-term (since 2017) Crumbassador Sibyl Leon, who established the successful non-for-profit Bread Encounters a few years ago in San Diego, after getting trained in Bread Therapy, has amazing news. She is establishing a Bread House in the little town of Kettle Falls, Washington, where she has moved to and gotten married again this past summer! Sibyl’s husband, Charles Lamica, is a former Alaska State Trooper and wilderness survival instructor to the Troopers. He loves doing and teaching traditional skills and so they are combining forces to bring this Bread House about by also having a space where he can teach traditional crafts like woodworking (with hand tools only) and leather crafting as well as blacksmithing.
Below are Charles’s own words about why he decided to learn more about Bread Therapy, upon witnessing its unexpected and profound influence:
“Thank you for accepting me into your training program. I’m very excited to learn about Bread Therapy and use it as a positive experience for people in our community. About a year and a half ago I had the opportunity to see Bread Therapy in action when Sibyl Leon (now my wife, Sibyl Leon-Lamica) taught a bread baking class to the kids in my youth program in which I teach teens traditional outdoor and pioneer skills. As part of that class, Sibyl included a flour drawing exercise which the kids greatly enjoyed. The amazing thing, in my opinion, was when one of the kids, a very shy and reserved teen girl, drew some unique “letters” in the flour. When prompted to talk about her writings, she explained they were a special code which only she understood. Upon further encouragement, she went on to explain that the letters she wrote in the flour translated as “This group has taught me I can be myself.” I was amazed! This young lady had never before expressed such sentiments verbally, but the flour drawing gave her the courage and confidence to share her feelings in a safe and comfortable environment. At that point, I decided I wanted to learn more about Bread Therapy.That young lady absolutely blossomed after the flour drawing experience! She got more involved in sports and other activities within her school and became much more outgoing and confident of herself. So, having seen first-hand, albeit in a small way, the positive effects of Bread Therapy I am very much looking forward to learning more and applying those lessons to help others.”
After the Bread Therapy session in Bulgaria with the people with special needs, Charles noted:
“Watching Nadezhda during the Bread Therapy session was a wonderful experience. I was deeply moved by the sense of joy and celebration she puts into this work. I suspect many of those people will have fond memories of making bread, telling stories, singing, and sharing bread. It was an awe-inspiring event for me. I am very much looking forward to bringing this program to my little part of the world in Washington state, and I thank the Bread Houses Network for giving me the training, tools, and opportunity to do so.”
We are all looking forward to seeing the wooden Bread House Sibyl and Charles are currently renovating in Washington full of people, bread, and boundless love!
