GRAHAM, N.C. (WGHP) — Detective Ada Cabanillas seeks to hold people accountable in the most troubling cases that come across her desk at the Graham Police Department, including crimes related to child sexual abuse and assaults.
Something she learned well before she became a detective is now one of her greatest tools to help children cope.
“I try to redirect that pain that they’re holding inside of them into something fun, something that will take their mind off [it] a little bit, and I know that because I’ve been through that, and it’s helped me,” she said.
Cabanillas is also an artist. Her work was featured in Alamance Arts’ exhibit “Salute to Alamance.”
It featured the work of 18 veteran artists. “Like I learned in the military, yes, there’s therapy … but what do you do the other days that you’re not in therapy? … I found art to be healing,” Cabanillas said.
Cabanillas is a Marine veteran who was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, for two years and then at Camp Pendleton in California.