Monthly Art Workshop for Self-Care 
Where?
Online: Live Video Streaming from Toronto Canada! All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST) USA/CANADA
Video recording available after workshop
Choose from any of these ONLINE monthly workshops. If you have a group who would like one of the below workshops contact me to inquire further.
On Demand ONLINE Doll Making for Inner Connection Using a reflective journaling process followed by a mindfulness doll making process, participants will open to, tap into, acknowledge, and celebrate their strengths.
Date TBD 1-3pm EST Symbols of Hope: Make your own 3-d mini coping tiles set. Using alcohol inks, collage and mini tiles you will make a set of coping “cards” that are tactile and small enough to carry on you for reflection and meditation.
Date TBD, 1-3pm EST Honor Your Gifts: Make a personal strengths shrine In this workshop you will make a 3-d shrine using tiny found objects and mixed media to represent and acknowledge your unique gifts. We will use guided imagery and reflective journaling to support your process.
Date TBD 1-3pm EST ONLINE Trusting Your Intuition: Make your own set of Self-Compassion “Wisdom Cards”. Our inner wisdom is accessible to us whenever we dare to call it. Through guided meditation and collage, you will make your own set of Wisdom cards to guide you in times of need. Add these to your self-care toolbox.
Date TBD 1-3pm EST Unmasking our Shadows: Mask-making Exploring our Shadows through mask making. In this workshop you will explore your inner strengths and the blocks which hinder true expression of your positive attributes. We will use reflective journaling, mask making and expressive techniques to engage your inner wise self. Through a creative self-reflective practice we become stronger for the clients we serve.
Date TBD, 1-3pm EST Mindful Sculptures: Intro to junk sculpture for mindfulness and inner exploration. Staying present, often easier said than done, is an important part of self-care as a helping professional. Through the process of constructing junk sculpture we will practice mindfulness, and connect to our unique process and way of engaging with the world.
Make self-care and professional growth a priority by connecting with other helping professionals and making art in a supportive environment.
Limited online spots available! Workshops will be video streamed live from Toronto, Canada using Zoom and a recording will be available after the workshop. A supply list will be sent out prior to the workshop and follow-up reflective prompts will be shared during and post workshop.
According to the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) therapists have a “professional responsibility” to “maintain high standards of professional competence and ethical behaviour and recognize the need for continuing education and personal care in order to meet this responsibility” Canadian Counseling and Psychotherapy Association, 2007, p.5
College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario competencies addressed:
1.4 Integrate awareness of self in relation to professional role.
3.3 Maintain self-care and level of health necessary for responsible therapy.
Please note: a certificate of participation will be provided upon request for continuing education purposes.
Join me for a monthly 2 hour self-care workshop series for therapists and helping professionals. Each session we will explore a different self-care themed art project (see below for details). We will focus on various art media every month including paints, clay, mixed media, found objects, nature, collage papers and textiles.
What is a helping professional you ask? Anyone who is in a care-giving or helping role with others on a professional basis, though this may include volunteers as well. Professionals such as psychotherapists, guidance counselors, special education teachers, medical professionals, 911 or crisis operators, occupational therapists, settlement workers, child and youth workers, spiritual leaders, to name a few. This monthly Creative Self-Care for Helping Professionals series are arts based workshops designed to explore different avenues of self-care through a variety of art media and projects. Prompts for self-reflection are included to deepen the experience.
Come explore how art making can be a soothing container for those in the helping professions. Having a regular self-care practice can help you keep your creative well filled, ready to face the often challenging and difficult role of helping others. Many of us encourage our clients and patients to take care of themselves but often forget to heed the same advice for ourselves regularly. Before every airplane flight, adults are instructed in emergencies to take the oxygen for themselves first before offering to others. The same principle applies to the work we do in the helping professions. If we do not take care of our own mental health and well-being first, then we are less likely to have the energy and emotional capacity to serve our clients.
This monthly gathering for therapists and helping professionals will be based on the tenets of art therapy:
-
art making for resiliency
-
art making for self-expression
-
art making for exploration of self
-
art making for processing difficult emotions
-
art making for self-reflection
-
art making for mindfulness
-
art making to experience a flow state
-
art making for relaxation
The format is of this monthly workshop is one of prevention, self-discovery and exploration through the arts but is not art therapy. Participants are encouraged to take any personal issues that arise in workshops sessions to their therapist. Please note that this workshop is not a supervision group. If you are looking for a supervision group in the Toronto area please contact petrea@arttherapist.ca
What Exactly is Self-Care?
Myers, Sweeney, & Witmer (2000) defined wellness as “a way of life oriented towards optimal health and well-being in which body, mind, and spirit are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural community” (p. 252).
Three specific components have to be put forward by therapists in their practice of self-care:
-
Self-awareness: “involves benign self-observation of our own physical and psychological experience” (Baker, 2003, p. 14)
-
Self-regulation: the process of self-regulation refers to the conscious or less conscious actions we do in order to “help us maintain and restore our physiological and psychological equilibrium” (Baker, 2003, p. 15). Of major importance for therapists considering the emotionally charged nature of their work. (Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel, 2007).
-
Balance: “the balancing of connections among self (involving the psychological, physical, and spiritual, as well as the professional), others (including personal and professional relationships), and the larger community (encompassing civic and professional involvement)”(Baker, 2003, p. 14).
Why Art for Self-Care?
Art production has been shown to improve negative mood (Bell, & Robbins, 2007).
Art-making can help contain emotions, explore and express self in relation to clinical work (Wadeson, 2003).
Creating art can lead to increased self-awareness through clarifying therapist’s feelings and exploring the preconscious and unconscious (Wadeson, 2003).
Art-making has the potential to offer a process for reflection, insight and problem solving for therapists (Wadeson, 2003).
Payment for single workshops can also be made via an e-transfer to petrea@arttherapist.ca
References:
Baker, E. K. (2003). Caring for ourselves: A therapist guide to personal and professional well-being. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bell, C.E. & Robbins, S.J., (2007) Effect of Art Production on Negative Mood: A Randomized, Controlled Trial Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 24(2) pp. 71-75.
Kaimal, G., Ray, K., & Muniz, J. (2016) Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants’ Responses Following Art Making, Art Therapy, 33:2, 74-80.
Myers, J. E., Sweeney, T. J., & Witmer, J. M. (2000). The Wheel of Wellness counseling for wellness: A holistic model for treatment planning. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78, 251-266.
Nainis, N (2005) Art Therapy with an Oncology Care Team, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 22:3, 150-154
Riley, S. (1997) An Art Psychotherapy Stress Reduction Group: For Therapists Dealing With A Severely Abused Client Population: The Arts In Psychotherapy 23(5) pp. 407-415.
Shapiro, S. L., Brown, K. W., & Biegel, G. M. (2007). Teaching self-care to caregivers: Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the mental health of therapists in training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 1(2), 105–115.
Wadeson, W. (2003) Making Art for Professional Processing: Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 20 (4) pp. 208-218.
