Finding the Little Girl Through Fabric: The Story Behind Healing Peace by Piece

By Tiffany Todd, LCSW

“Survivors know that the true monsters are never under the bed, they’re on top of it.”

The words are honest and impossible to ignore. They reflect a reality many survivors know well: the experiences that shape us most deeply are often not imagined fears, but lived ones.

For artist Brandy, healing did not arrive all at once. It unfolded gradually, eventually finding its way through an unexpected medium: fabric collage.

Long before art became part of her healing journey, Brandy had already discovered fabric collage as a creative outlet. She was drawn to the process of selecting, arranging, and layering pieces of fabric into something new. At the time, however, she saw it simply as art.

The connection between art and healing came later.

While doing deeper therapeutic work, Brandy found herself struggling to connect with younger parts of herself. During one conversation, she described her experience through the image of monsters under the bed. Her therapist responded with a simple challenge: “Now go paint that.”

The result became a piece titled Under.

Everything changed after that.

Through the process of creating Under, Brandy connected with a younger version of herself in a way she never had before. What words alone had not been able to reach, art suddenly could.

“I didn’t know I needed it,” Brandy says, “but I needed it to find that little girl.”

What began as a creative practice became something much more. Piece by piece, Brandy found herself reconnecting with aspects of herself that had felt distant for a very long time.

For years, Brandy never intended anyone else to see that story.

Her audience consisted primarily of her husband, her therapist, and occasionally her handyman. The artwork existed for healing rather than recognition. Sharing it publicly was never part of the plan.

That changed when her husband, as Brandy laughingly describes it, “socialized too much and socialized me into an art show in Michigan.”

The experience brought understandable hesitation. The artwork represented far more than artistic expression. It reflected a deeply personal healing journey. Brandy had little interest in hearing judges evaluate that journey or offer opinions about her recovery. Fortunately, that wasn’t the experience she found.

“There was no judging,” she explains.

Instead, she found connection.

What followed has felt like a whirlwind. Within a matter of weeks, work that had once existed quietly in private spaces began reaching a wider audience. The transition happened naturally. What began as something deeply personal started resonating with other people.

Brandy is open about her experiences and the role creativity has played in her healing. She understands that sharing her art means sharing pieces of herself. Yet there is something powerful in that vulnerability. Her work reminds us that healing doesn’t always look the way we expect. Sometimes it begins with finding a way back to ourselves.

Today, Brandy creates pieces that tell the truth about survival while also making space for healing. Her work does not deny pain or attempt to erase it. Instead, it reflects the belief that healing and beauty can exist side by side.

As Brandy says, “Whenever beauty can come from tragedy it is a win for all of us.”

What began as a private effort to reconnect with a little girl within has become something she now shares with others. Each piece reflects a process of gathering what once felt disconnected and discovering that something meaningful can emerge from it.

Through Healing Peace by Piece, Brandy shares what she found through her own healing journey: the parts of ourselves we lose are not always gone. Sometimes they’re simply waiting for a way back.