By Sandra J. Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler®

Shayala Diamond of Lotus Moon says that beading is like meditation to her.  Many women, including myself, have found themselves relaxing to the feel of beads running through their hands.  I could sit and finger pearls all day long while the stress rolls off me.   The fact that religious groups use beads to count prayers also speaks to their meditative properties.

Beading projects have been used as physical therapy in hospitals.  They are an incredibly popular high school project.  My sister in law, an art teacher, talks about how the roughest, toughest, high school kid will sit there and quietly focus on their beading project.  Kim Kampschroer runs an after school beading project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   The students must attend regular classes that day if they want to attend the beading group.  One student was overheard saying that he was going to skip school that day until he remembered it was beading day. 

Beads are now being sold in prisons.  Social workers are also using them when working with prisoners and drug abusers.  Beads are a large part of many half way homes and drug /alcohol rehabilitation programs.  There is at least one woman who overcame drug addiction and left a life of prostitution when she began beading.  She is currently making her living selling her beadwork. 

Beading is not a magic elixir.  Like every other tool, it helps those who are ready and willing to be helped.  But beads are one tool in the arsenal of mental health personnel the world over.