The Inside-Out Healing Initiative

Delivering Humanity and Healing with Arts and Humanities

Two social equity Founders have combined forces to continue to use the Arts and Humanities to unite and heal individuals, families and communities, and to streamline and unify allies’ efforts, in order to scale reach throughout the Midwest and amplify collective impact.

The collaboration between the Founders of the low-profit social enterprise, Good Basket, and the 501c3 non-profit, Art from the Heart, provides the Heartland with credentialed and customized creative healing arts programming, life skills and workforce upskill training and hyper-local community impact and volunteer opportunities.

At the heart of it all — healing individuals and communities, from the Inside - Out, by providing healing experiences, and goods and services to local women and their children, impacted by and involved in our justice system.

The Chief Organizers

Heather Canuel, Justice Involved Founder, Art from the Heart, 501c3

Heather Canuel is a justice system activist, educator, author and organizer. She began studying the problem and designing solutions 25 years ago when she became “the last woman to give birth cuffed to a bed” while incarcerated in Illinois. That lived experience sparked the Central Illinois woman to lead efforts to ban, worldwide, the criminal justice systems’ shackling of women during labor and childbirth and to dedicate her life to improving our knowledge of justice issues and their harmful impact on women and their children.

Today the mother and grandmother helps us address the multi-generational trauma of incarceration through the arts and humanities. She directs her own healing arts non-profit, Art from the Heart, and through it, for the last five years, has pioneered efforts to strengthen the reunification of mothers with their children. She also advises and develops programming and policy with and for The Women’s Justice Institute, Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison, National Council on Higher Education in Prison and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.

Most recently, Heather returned to the nation’s largest single-site jail as a visiting teacher to introduce those inside to Art from the Heart. Her ongoing role is to guide both justice involved women and men through healing activities. The students, with Heather as their guide, use a syllabus and student workbook she created, entitled “Healing, from The Inside - Out.” Exposing more people to her proprietary curriculum and her personal guidance through it, is at the heart of her expanded initiative.

Cindy Kosydor, Founder of Good Basket, L3C

Throughout her professional career, Cindy Kosydor has been mission-forward, helping companies and communities address existing gender inequalities by collaborating on the equitable allocation of resources and opportunities needed to improve outcomes for all. Her gender equity social enterprise, Good Basket, strives to create fair & impartial opportunities for Midwest women, through collective reinvestment in shared gender equity goals.

Cindy was born to teenage, blue collar, working class Southern Illinois parents, and was able to advance professionally and economically during times when fewer strategies and measures existed to compensate capable women for historical and social disadvantages. She created Good Basket to cause economic and social progress for women through sector-specific educational and charitable initiatives. It aims to ensure everyone, regardless of gender, has equal access to opportunities through improved access to sector- and earnings-based education, training and skill development.

Her collaboration with Heather fulfills her mission to connect allies and communities committed to doing good for women and their children.

Gifts for Giving

Be Sure to Check out Heather & Cindy’s Gift Closet Below

Impact Q3 Initiative Priorities

Back-to-School Essentials

Increasing the amount of supplies collected and distributed in 2024 (500 supply-filled book bags) and expanding distribution range throughout Illinois and to all grade levels (elementary to college bound)
Collecting through retail partner on-premise, drop-bin collections and cash donations at point of sale
Impacting with brand partner participation, pledging to match a percentage of retail register receipts
Distributing through our statewide justice-involved founder partner network in Southern Illinois, the Metro East, Central Illinois, Greater Chicagoland and Northern Illinois
Assembling as volunteers to sort, assemble and deliver the goods

Healing from the Inside, Out — a guided experience

Supporting Heather’s teaching initiative that uses her proprietary curriculum and teaching methods. “Healing from the Inside, Out” features multiple healing modules, and requires a student workbook, minimal art tools and other creative interactives. Women and men incarcerated in the nation’s largest single-site jail are the first students to study and use the modules. In June 2025, Heather began guiding the justice involved at Cook County Corrections through healing sessions using her curriculum and tools. It is an ongoing teaching role for Heather
Evolving Heather’s healing modules for community-based delivery
Providing the healing experiences to our statewide constituents, allied communities and participating partners’ associates

Support the Initiative

Join the effort in the Field, as described above

Donate now, for immediate impact

For donations of $101 or more, donors dip into Cindy & Heather’s Sample Closet to select a Thank you gift.

See the gift menu, below; note your preferred gift in the message section of your $101 donation. One of our organizers will additionally reach out after receipt of your donation.

Your Donation is Tax-Deductible. Acknowledgement for your donation will include a receipt from the 501c3 charity, Art from the Heart

$10.00

$20.00

$30.00

$40.00

Custom Amount

Support us by covering the fees we have to pay

3% Cover the Fee

Cindy & Heather’s Gift Closet

Brand new items gifted to us, to gift to you

A collection of its newest, best-selling handmade line. Hand pipe, One Hitter and a Nectar Straw. Chicago-headquartered CannaDevices and its “Together We Cann” motto, creates branded glass and accessories, handmade by multiple artists. ($60)
An all-sized booklet assortment of Z’s Life signature, organic rice papers with a stylishly finished cover and magnetic closure. Five-set bundle includes the Mini Deep Blue, the smallest sized rolling papers currently available at a compact 2-inch by 2-inch booklet. And its valued King Booklet of 500 rice papers and filters. Z’s Life is a New York design studio that plans, designs and implements elegant items for people’s holistic smoking rituals and consumption experiences. ($50)
This Limited Edition case is specifically made to fit the Timeless Vapes TV6 battery when attached to its 500mg C-Cell cartridges ($35)
Elevate your dabbing experience with the Dabstract Hotknife Attachment— Use the ceramic hot knife attachment for precise dabbing of Dabstract Live Resin Concentrates ($25)
In hardcover. This book delves into the dynamic journeys of women navigating the complex cannabis supply chain. Each vignette is inspired by their compelling stories, offering key insights and valuable lessons from their diverse experiences. Published in 2024, Finn’s book features multiple Midwest women in cannabis, and is an independent study on women in cannabis, researched, written and published as her triumphant, culminating creation for her academic cannabis studies. ($25)
Designed by Select, to be paired with their proprietary vape pods ($20)
Designed by DabCap, from Timeless. This universal DabCap amplifies your vape with any traditional glassware or dabrig. ($15)
Young comic creator, and Penguin Random House author created a custom-comic strip, offered as a king-sized, limited edition booklet of Z’s Life rolling papers. Her talking animals communicate the contemporary moment in one speech bubble, “Do you wanna smoke?” The Alison Zai booklet has 50 king-size, ultra slow-burning rice papers, 50 printed perforated filters, and is held tightly with gold-plated magnetic closures. ($10)

From Viola Chi - Broadview. Same great company, now new name, “Village” ($35)
From the North Lawndale social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings and its Bee Love Cafe ($35)
From the Tilton, Illinois multiplex that features Molly’s Joint restaurant, bar and lounge ($35)
Women’s SM. An original T from the Illinois’ OG organization of women in cannabis: IWC ($20)
An original from Korner Boys. Promising a Free Korner Boys Sticker with every Oz. ($20)
Unisex, L. Featuring Khalifa Kush, TICAL, Royaltree Reserve by King Louie, NAPALM, ½ Zip and Flora logos ($20)
Unisex XL. An Illinois’ retailers with multiple destinations. Including the Parkway co-located with Molly’s Joint, Tilton, IL. ($20)
A quality cotton collector’s item. Graphics: Equity. Inclusion. Social Responsibility. Unisex. L ($20)
A quality cotton collector’s item. Graphics: Equity. Inclusion. Social Responsibility. Unisex. S ($20)
From The 1937 Group. Original Tax Act Stamp Graphic. With Equity. Inclusion. Social Responsibility. ($20)

We want to hear from you

Please email Cindy and Heather about the needs of individuals in your community, the goods, services or time you can donate, collecting goods for an effort or hosting a field trip for our constituents, volunteering to assemble and deliver on one of our upcoming initiatives, or to have Heather guide your team on a healing experience, from the Inside - Out.