Creative Care for Ourselves and Our Communities:
A workshop series with CHSSN to support artists’ mental health
The Creative Care project aims to support the mental health and well-being of artists in Quebec through a series of workshops and events offered by health professionals and community members.
The project draws on a variety of approaches to well-being and healing practices to offer resources for artists to engage in self care, community care, and build their creative capacity. Workshops will be offered both online and in person and will include topics related to mindfulness, burnout, dramatherapy for the home work space, embodiment, and community care networks. This project is funded by the Community Health And Social Services Network (CHSSN).
There will be between 5 and 7 workshops and events offered starting mid-March and continuing into early April. Participation is free for all.
Upcoming Workshops
1. Introduction to Mental Health
March 15, 4:30-6PM
This workshop’s goal is to raise awareness of the concepts of mental health, and different kinds of mental health issues with the goal of de-stigmatizing mental health. They will also develop new perspectives on and attitudes towards close ones who have mental health disorders, and learn about different local resources.
Introduction to Mental Health will be facilitated by Éloïse Rivoire and Catarina Bandeira Trapp, psychosocial workers from Arborescence.
2. Creative Resources: A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Self-Care
March 18, 10:30AM-12PM
This workshop is for artists interested in exploring mindfulness-based practices as a resource for coping with mental health. Our primary creative resource is our own body-mind. We need to connect to this on a daily basis in a way that is healthy, nurturing and supportive, particularly during times of stress and tension.
This workshop will be facilitated by Sonia Osorio who has a Master’s level training in naturopathy and homeopathy and is also a registered massage therapist and a certified yoga instructor and meditation practitioner with over 20-years’ experience in somatic approaches to health and well-being.
3. Challenging Burnout & Engaging our Creative Capacity
March 27, 6:00-8PM
This workshop is for artists struggling with the impacts of burnout who want to understand and discuss the contexts and systems that encourage burnout culture. Focusing on self-care as an antidote to burnout puts the burden of navigating unjust contexts onto the shoulders of individuals, but the burnout problem is contextual and systemic.
This workshop will be facilitated by Rose-Anne St-Paul. The facilitator of this workshop desires to support artists who want to explore their relationship to burnout and use their creativity to write another story.
4. Moving into Somatic Attention
March 31, 4:30-6:30PM
This workshop is for artists who would like to bring attention to their somatic and embodied awareness and explore the connection between the nervous system and their felt experience
This workshop will be facilitated by Kelly Keenan and Maryse Damecour. Kelly is a Montreal based contemporary dance artist and teacher working in the field since 2001. As a teacher her workshops are foremost concerned with the felt experience of dance with strong influences from somatics and manual therapy including the Axis Syllabus, Anatomy Trains, Feldenkrais, Material for the Spine among others.
5. Transforming Motivation: At home & at work
April 3, 12-1:45PM
This workshop is designed for artists who work from home, work remotely, or spend a lot of time on their screen who want to develop techniques for facing overwhelm and stress in the home/work space. As winter continues, many of us find ourselves in a freeze: lacking motivation, feeling sluggish, and needing change. Even though we feel frozen for a reason, this workshop will focus on how to gently start thawing out.
This workshop will be facilitated by Bailey B. Carter, MA, CCC, ACNN, an anglophone creative arts therapist in the greater Montreal area. She specializes in helping adults and teens with trauma and to reduce their anxiety using creative expression.
6. Hormonal Health for Artists that Cycle: a workshop about menstrual health
April 6, 5:00-7PM
This workshop is for artists who would like to learn more about how their hormonal cycle impacts their creative practice. It is for artists who menstruate and is also open to artists who have had a hysterectomy, are in menopause, or are taking gender affirming hormonal treatment and hormonal contraceptives.
Courtney Kirkby is a uterine educator and abdominal therapist with training in menstrual charting, gynovisceral manipulation, doula-ing and vaginal steaming. She weaves together years and years of various trainings in the field of menstrual and reproductive health to support clients and anyone open to learning.
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