Individual
Are you so overwhelmed by life stage demands that you neglect to capture the needs of your heart? Are you stuck in a perspective that is unhelpful to your health? Do you cope in ways that is harmful to your spirit? Are you so committed to the needs, advice or demands of others that you neglect your own?
Individual therapy with me will offer you an opportunity to learn and implement life skills and arts-based strategies for understanding more fully the process of change and motivation and to develop a capacity to listen to your heart's longings. If you are a creative or "artsy" person, we can begin to explore how to bring the arts to your self-discovery and decision making. If you long to find your imaginative and creative self, again, or for the first time, we will begin to create space for this. Accessing imagination is a powerful way to create space for healing, vitality and rejuvenation. In our sessions we will do activities to either better understand the issues or to identify the solutions.
Individual therapy is offered in three ways. It can be a brief model (three, eight, or ten), as a preparation for the Turning Point Group, or as an on-going commitment, at your own pace for one to two years. In each session, in addition to talking, you may at times be guided to explore your issues (at the beginning, middle or end of a session) through various activities, including all the expressive arts (art-making, storytelling, role playing, moving and/or musical expression).. You will be encouraged to extend your discoveries between sessions and to develop your own practice of self-expression. These practices will stretch and strengthen your learning.
Intake Assessment. A 75 minute consultation session is an opportunity to uncover the transition you are in, set the direction for your discoveries, uncover your obstacles to health, identify your strengths and select your preferences for arts-based activities. You will get a "taste" of how the arts can impact the discovery process in amazing ways. You will be asked to arrive 20 minutes early to complete paperwork prior to the session or you can receive it by email, print it out and bring it in with you to your first session.
The Trio. At a crossroads? In a life transition? Finishing up a spiritual retreat or therapy program? Considering a vocation change? The “Trio”, i.e. three 75 minute sessions (usually booked after an intake assessment), is a short-term therapy or coaching experience where, instead of continuing to talk about problems, ideas and solutions, we “go to the arts” and do activities that utilize the imagination (art-making, storytelling, role playing, moving and/or musical expression). We may do this at the beginning, the middle or the end of a session. Three sessions, with this approach, can strengthen awareness regarding direction and/or assist with momentum. And, you will learn some new, possibly fun strategies, to listen to your heart’s desires, implement change and make decisions.
On-going Sessions. Individual sessions of 60 or 75 minutes will be structured in intervals of 8 to 12 sessions to ensure we are checking in on how we are doing with your goals and expectations. As long as you are finding the sessions helpful we can continue at regular intervals
Group
Groups and workshops offer a rich experience for growth and learning about ourselves. You will have a chance to tell pieces of your story to others, to see yourself in others, to expand how others see you and to have fun while doing all of that. The therapeutic factors of group work are so healing. And usually, the groups are more economical.
At the heart of Windsong Expressive Arts Therapy is my commitment to bring you closer to understanding of and honouring your natural rhythm. Groups are the ideal way to explore this further.
The Turning Point Group. This 6 session group series is experiential and psycho-educational in nature. It is a chance to explore a current transition or turning point. The groups are held Tuesday evenings and are designed to assist you to move at your pace through change process, to strengthen the changes you have made, and to identify the challenges you are overcoming. They are offered two or three times a year. See tributes offered from other series.
Workshops. A range of workshops using the arts as a tool for self discovery are available throughout the year.
To see our current Workshops click here.
Supervision
The benefits of professional support, mentoring and supervision in our work lives have a far-reaching effect upon our health, our work satisfaction and our lifestyle satisfaction. Self-reflection is enhanced with creative and expressive strategies.
Capturing our pivotal moments can inspire us and assist us with the move us towards our calling, our purpose and our passion. Perhaps you are at a crossroads. Perhaps you are an educator, an artist or a therapist seeking to shift your direction, change your lifestyle, connect more clearly to a healthy rhythm.
Here are a few expressive arts consultation and supervision options:
- Three 75-minute individual sessions designed to get clarity with the direction your practice is going. (A Trio)
- Create your plan for supervision. Get support to create a structure to document, highlight and shape your practice. Work towards your REAT or REACE certification with 60 or 75-minute individual sessions at intervals that suit your learning habits and lifestyle demands. This can be as little as five and as many as twenty sessions.
- Discuss, review and shape your expressive arts practice. Bring in examples, challenges and successes as a method of transitioning professionally and ethically into your chosen vocation.
- Monthly or periodic consultation groups may be an option when there is interest. These will be places for reflective practice, opportunities to build your expressive arts tool box, and a space for renewal and vitality.
Karen Daniels has over 20 years of solid mental health experience and is registered with the Alberta College of Occupational Therapy (ACOT) and with the International Association of Expressive Arts Therapy (IEATA). She has had her REAT (registered expressive arts therapist) designation since December 2016.
f