Monthly Art Workshop for Self-Care 
NOTE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ALL WORKSHOPS ARE HELD ONLINE
When? TBA
(see below for details about individual workshop themes)
ONLINE Register for ONLINE option via: Creative Self-Care For Helping Professionals ONLINE page
Make self-care and professional growth a priority by connecting with other helping professionals and making art in a supportive environment.
Doll Making for Inner Connection Using a reflective journaling process followed by a mindfulness doll making process, participants will open to, acknowledge, tap into and celebrate their strengths
ONLINE Portrait of Self Intuitive Painting We each have unique qualities of self that we face the world with. Our personality is more than temperament, or our experiences, it is a gestalt which cannot be separated into pieces, all are significant and reliant on each other. Who are we? What makes us whole? These are some of the questions we will explore through intuitive painting of self.
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.
According to the Canadian Counseling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA) therapists have a “professional responsibility” to “maintain high standards of professional competence and ethical behavior, 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 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.
Who is a helping professional?
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:
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art making for resiliency
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art making for self-expression
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art making for exploration of self
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art making for processing difficult emotions
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art making for self-reflection
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art making for mindfulness
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art making to experience a flow state
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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 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:
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Self-awareness: “involves benign self-observation of our own physical and psychological experience” (Baker, 2003, p. 14)
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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).
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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).
Workshops:
NEW! Honor Your Gifts: Make a personal strengths shrine
Changing Colours, Transforming Moods, Layers to Self: Print-making for release and self-exploration.
Doll Making for Inner Connection Using a reflective journaling process followed by a mindfulness doll making process, participants will open to, acknowledge, tap into and celebrate their strengths
Portrait of Self Intuitive Painting
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.
TBA Puppet Hero Journey: Connect with your strengths through puppet making and story telling.
We take on different roles which only reflect partially who we are at both a professional and personal level. Come explore the stories we tell ourselves of who we are suppose to be through puppet making and story telling. Discover your hero’s journey.
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.
