Session Offerings

Caring for another takes a part of oneself. In the process of caregiving, one can find less time to tend to their own needs atop the worry and time spent scheduling appointments and communicating with healthcare  professionals. Sometimes communication barriers leave us frustrated and feeling out of control. Sometimes we take on tasks we never imagined we would to help someone cope through their illness. This group provides an outlet to engage with other Caregivers and establish personal care rituals to keep you grounded in your own self-preservation through creative mediums.

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All Caregivers are welcome, such as spouses, children, parents, nieces & nephews, aunts & uncles, siblings, neighbors, healthcare workers, and educators, to name a few. Caregivers who recently lost someone and are in the process of a role shift are welcome to find comfort with peers here or join our Resilience bereavement group.

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Led by Lisa, Noelani.

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Caregivers who have lost someone after a dedicated period of caregiving often find themselves with a range of emotions pertaining to grief. This could be true after both sudden and impending loss. Establishing wellness routines, talking about and honoring the deceased, and taking small steps in adapting your life and the life of those around you to this change requires patience and processing of the loss. Allowing an expressive medium to work alongside you during the process offers another way to express yourself. As you move through transitions and emotions allow this supportive space to be with you.

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There will be a specific group offered for those who lost someone to Covid19, should you like to be with peers who can relate to your distinctive experience.

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Led by Lisa

The pandemic has impacted our lives in both individual and collective ways. This space supports persons to reflect upon how they have been both forced and motivated to make adjustments to their daily routines. Drawing upon collage, photography, journaling, watercolor, narrative and mindfulness, group members will reflect upon the universal impact, acknowledge their personal struggles and triumphs, and discover any ubiquitous themes arising through both their own and the collective group's artwork.

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Led by Lisa.

Can a color hold a feeling? Does an artist include a message in each artwork or does the message reveal itself to the artist? Dialoguing with imagery brings us closer to it. If vision loss or blindness has affected you, this group offers a space to let out a loud roar or a quiet whisper through your artwork. Touching art materials grounds us in identifying  texture, temperature, pliability, shape, and also invites turning inward toward our somatosensory sensations. The artmaking process brings a latitude of individualization and autonomy. Join us and welcome the opportunity to feel art and the art of those around you. 

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Led by Lisa.

Are you a Caregiver that recently moved your loved one/cared for from home to an assisted living facility, nursing home, group home or hospice setting? You are not alone. Many Caregivers recognize the need for more specialized care, simply cannot provide the care that is needed safely at home, and/or cannot financially make ends meet. Increasing rehospitalization rates also impact the decision to move a loved one from home. During this transition the expectation is that nursing and social work staff offer supportive services to your loved one/cared for alongside the support you provide. Yet, how this decision, transition and adjustment affects the Caregiver is less studied. It is just as important for your well-being and that of your loved one/cared for.

 

As your role and needs change, often accompanying mixed feelings of guilt, regret, frustration, anger and/or relief emerge with your new experiences surrounding your loved one/cared for in their new setting. This group provides an interconnectedness with Caregivers who are experiencing the same shifts. Allow yourself to explore your varying shades of emotions and authentically respond to your well founded feelings through an array of creative interventions. You are deserving of peace of mind.

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Led by Lisa.

Art therapy gives children and young adults other outlets of expression besides talking when bullying has impacted their emotional well-being. All persons can be at risk for encountering aggressive ​behavior from bullying. Validating  feelings, not minimizing the incident(s), and offering a creative space to explore negative reactions and feelings encourages the development of coping strategies. Without this support persons can sustain lifelong emotional impacts.

 

Certain children and young adults can be more vulnerable to bullying, such as those with ASD, personality disorders, speech impediments, those that come from varying family structures, those of a certain race, culture, those of a certain body type, sexual orientation or simply based on their gender, for instance. Art Therapy is not restricted to language, age, gender, race, level of ability, culture, etc., therefore through the creative process persons are able to process their experience, develop coping skills, increase self-esteem, strengthen  interpersonal relationship skills, and reduce their chance of being victimized by bullying again and have a more formed awareness of emotional regulation and response should it occur again.

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This group will be divided into appropriate age ranges depending upon the needs of participants.

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Led by Lisa.

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This is a weekly group that invites participants to work from found objects pertaining to an established group theme. Perhaps you have sand or bark, pinecones or leaves, wood, clay, stones or acorns—You will bring your chosen objects...a little adhesive or supporting materials at hand is okay...and together be submerged in the surprisingly common beauty of ordinary offerings from Mother Earth or find awe in her less common treasures. Earthen materials can offer a heightened awareness of the senses while providing a grounding personal connection to nature.

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This group will be divided into appropriate age ranges depending upon the needs of participants.

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Led by Lisa.

The circular shape has had a profound impact on our artistic and human development. Can we learn something more about ourselves and our world through this form? There is a restorative power in wholeness that we actively create for ourselves. This group has guided imagery components and relaxation is a goal of the artistic process of mandala making.

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Led by Lisa.

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Our furry, four-legged family members are part of our heart and bonded to us. Yet, many people feel isolated in their caregiving of a sick pet, and even more lonesome dealing with the emotional grief after their passing. Some live in regret wondering if they made the right choice in their pet's end of life care. Do not allow your grief and this void to be minimized. Allow a supportive art therapy based group to accompany you through the pain and loss. Let it challenge you to identify your boundaries with others, need for reflection and healing, and the compassionate care you offered to your loved pet. We will honor their life, and the life you offered them in a small group setting.

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Led by Lisa.

Siblings of children and young adults that are neurodiverse share an experience with their family, yet each sibling's personal triumphs and struggles are unique. Siblings can learn from a young age that society is not always adapted to accommodate their family's needs. Some take on the role of caretaker, which can come with great responsibility and pressure to protect their sibling. Others may feel isolated from peers, having mixed feelings of self-consciousness surrounding their sibling's disability. Some feel selfish in expressing their frustrations, or feel that their parent's attention is less focused on their needs.

 

Art Therapy allows for expression. Siblings will have an opportunity to find commonalities that peers share in this space. They will have a safe and creative outlet to release their worries, along with their joys. They will work toward understanding that these differences sometimes present barriers, but they also enliven altruism.The experiences they have with their sibling and family can be reflected upon in a hopeful and not resentful worldly view. Weekly, personal artistic expression is a meaningful intervention to understand the complexity of feelings involved in this sibling relationship, along with other relationships within the family and beyond. Once a month each group participant will be invited to bring their sibling to create alongside them in a dyad directive for that session—creating art, memories, and exploring materials and feelings together.

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This group will be divided into appropriate age ranges depending upon the needs of participants.

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Led by Lisa.

A five-week session devoted to the exploration of personal identity psychoeducation. The group members will select a book to read and be invited to turn inward as they journal creative responses and respond to directives during discussion. After dialoguing with their own images, group members will be invited to dialogue with each other's imagery to bring attention to an experience outside of their own. Join us in a safe space where we foster building a community of acceptance and support. Growing up in a deeply heteronormative society often leads to feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, judgement, concern over gender expression, and intimacy shame. Together we will explore ways to identify what negatively impacts our relationships, even the one we have with ourself, while developing coping mechanisms of self-care.

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This group will request reading time outside the group, in addition to reflection and sharing of creative elements in our shared time within.

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Led by Lisa

Music listening stimulates spontaneous imagery, memory recollection, relaxation, and inner peace. A conversation through music develops a narrative that supports feelings as they emerge. Reflecting upon the musical experience through words, art, movement, or sound bridges the awoken symbols with a deeper understanding of our unique emotional difficulties. Insights gained support us to listen more in our daily lives and strengthen our inner resources.

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Led by Lisa

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Getting messy is okay!...sometimes! It definitely is during this art making session. This group is intended for children and young adults whose curiosity is best met through tactile sensory engagement. If you have a spot to cover at home with a tarp, tablecloth or newspaper, there is the opportunity to enjoy focusing on feeling different art materials, while exploring personal feelings through art creations. Participants will learn when to slow down and when to speed up—building a tolerance for following instructions through this fun and silly approach to communicating through play and art making. All the while encouraging the strengthening of their autonomy, interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, self-expression, and emotional regulation.

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Led by Lisa.

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Would your shoelaces benefit from a tighter bow? That cranky button-zipper vest not closing? Need more practice answering the telephone? This group will address person-specific needs in a smaller pod setting. Repetition aides understanding, an artful component invites us to have fun and reflect upon where one gets stuck, and group support fosters a motivating process to reach an individualized level of autonomy, while recognizing where partnership helps one meet his or her personal goals to sustain independent living skills.

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Led by Lisa.

Children are resilient. They are just as attuned to the pandemic as adults. They were not prepared for their lives being tossed upside down either. And when parents experience stress, it typically resonates within the family. As adults become more accustomed to their change in schedules since Spring, children have had less steadiness. Some children returned to school five days a week with masks, face shields, desk guards, separation from peers and teachers--unlike any classroom they once knew. Other children returned hybrid facing these new challenges some days and working remote the others. Some children did not return, learning how to be present in school entirely remote or home schooled with no attachment to the school they once thrived in. Some children lost a family member to Covid. This is a lot of adjustment. A lot of change atop parental and family adjustments.

 

It is time to have a safe and fun space for your child to create and process worries, changes, feelings, and joys. Yes, joys! Believe it or not your child has the resilience to find the positives in the changes. As they learn differently, cope differently, and develop new ways of understanding the changes around them they are exercising their ability to be brave and resilient. At times there might be resistance, there might be tears, maybe even silence or an unwillingness to talk. That is why creative arts therapy is so important for children's well-being. Images, narratives, movements, music, giggles and silliness comes naturally, and this group draws upon your child's innate strengths and characteristics to invite creative expression and emotional expansion during a continuous pandemic.

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This group will be divided into appropriate age ranges depending upon the needs of participants.

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Led by Lisa

Through a combination of art history discussion + storytelling, group members will find inspiration to create their own art form from a highlighted artist of the past. Integrating elements such as, music, movement, nature, and/or mindfulness will encourage each member to creatively express their unique narrative.

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Led by Lisa.

Parenting is joyous, but it is also complex. Being a new parent comes with moments of profound awe and wonder, along with the tiring and more difficult ones. Your caretaking is self-less and sometimes you need to create a little space for yourself. Bring your little one, bring yourself, and join other parents exploring their new role. Have this space for yourself to create and be heard while you find a  balance of self time and family time.      

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Led by Lisa.

Lisa can knit a straight rectangle...doll blankets are her speciality!..but she admires the complexity and artful, interwoven organization of colorful fabrics and conversation. When things feel less held together, the very act of looping grounds us. Repetition calms us. This group is open to both experienced and beginner level participants in the format they prefer, such as knitting, crocheting, weaving, needlepoint, etc.

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Led by Lisa.

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