Turning pain into beauty: Regina tattoo artist offers discount to clients covering scars

The scars of self-harmseldom disappear, but with some creativity, theycan be turned into something beautiful.

Sara Derksen, a tattoo artist at Nine Worlds Tattoo in Regina, wanted to find a way to help people with scars, burns or marks heal from their struggles with depression and anxiety.

The tattoo artist of seven years isoffering a discount to everyone looking to cover their scars with ink.

For Derksen,it's a way to help people who she relates to and who are in need.

"When Iwas a teenager I was in a bad way. I had a very rough upbringing so cutting kind of became an outlet for myself," said Derksen.

At 16 she got her first tattoo. "I turned that pain into beauty almost immediately, and saved myself a couple of scars along the way."

The cover up tattoos range in size, look and tone. Some clients look to adorn their body with cherry blossoms while others opt for skulls.

"A lot of people want to go beautiful and pretty and just get ridof the concept entirely of hurt. Other people still want to wear their pain on their sleeves."

One client, for example, is working to complete a tree that ishalf-living and half-dead.

"These scars are little, silent screams," said Derksen. "They regret it. A lot of peopleget through that hard time and they have this scar of a reminder and they don't really need that in their lives."

With hour long tattoo sessions being far from cheap, a discount is her way of offering support to those that need it. "If I can help someone's mental health or make their self-confidence higher I'm going to do that."

During those session Derksen says she has, on occasion, played the role of therapist. Tattoo artists and their clients often have similar relationships to those that hairdressers or barbers have with their customers.

Many of her clients have stopped self-harming, but when it comes out during a session that a client is still self-harming, Derksen says she will refer them to her "arsenal" of books, movies, poems, or refer them to therapy clinic.

The 20 per cent discount will be honoured for a year at Nine Worlds Tattoo.