The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute offers top quality training in Art Therapy, Expressive Arts, Expressive Arts Therapy and Therapeutic Clowning in Winnipeg, Canada. Darci Adam, WHEAT Director, is a Registered Art and Expressive Arts Therapist with Masters' Degrees in Drama and Educational Psychology (Counselling), as well as Diplomas in Education and Art Therapy. She is the Regional Representative for the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).
WHEAT is committed to using the universal language of the arts for healing, self awareness and social justice. There are currently more than 30 students enrolled in diploma and certificate programs, plus dozens more whom drop in to select courses for professional development. Last fall WHEAT celebrated the first graduating class of Art Therapists in central Canada! WHEAT also co-hosted the 2017 IEATA Conference on Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts in Winnipeg.
WHEAT classes are provided in a gorgeous urban retreat wilderness area at the St. Norbert Arts Centre in the Guest House at the Trappiste Ruins in St. Norbert, as well as at the Arthur Street Studio in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District.
WHEAT invites American and international students to drop in to the magical, sensory world of healing through the arts and discover the arts’ playfulness and transformative power. There are exciting opportunities to train with internationally acclaimed faculty in Winnipeg this summer! Taking place in the tranquil, historic, natural setting of the St. Norbert Arts Centre these training opportunities are perfect for school counselors, resource teachers, educators, clinicians, therapists, healers and artists. Professional development and Expressive Arts certificate courses are open to international students. Course hours can be used towards registration as professional members of IEATA. Register this spring to confirm your spot before classes fill up!
Tamalpa-trained Korean-American performance artist
This workshop pulls from Dohee Lee’s training and practice in Korean Shamanism and performative ritual by utilizing techniques that connect to voice, body, heartbeat and spirit. Learn the principle of Sound Healing, Grounding body and mind through sound/music, Tuning body, creating strong as storytelling and creating a Ritual.
Winnipeg’s most experienced Therapeutic Clown
This course introduces the student to the art of clown in general and to therapeutic clowning specifically. The course will be primarily in workshop format; supplemented with some lecture, reading and video media. Students will engage in basic “clown play”, and begin to explore the relationship between clown, the pleasure of play, and sharing this pleasure with one's audience. Videos will be used to introduce students a variety clown styles and approaches.
Master Teacher & Therapist and co-founder of IEATA
This workshop will introduce participants to the experience of trauma and how to address it as an expressive arts therapist. Participants will also be introduced to the traditional definition and theory of trauma, brain research in relationship to trauma, the stages of trauma and indigenous healing practices that address trauma, i.e. expressive arts therapy. Participants will explore the Jungian understanding of trauma and how it interlaces with expressive. The workshop will include an intuitive and didactic understanding of these aspects through readings, assignments and multi-arts processes.
This course introduces participants to the archetypal and developmental approaches to character/personality development using mythological themes that underline human development and the complexes that create the psychopathology framework. Participants will also be introduced to art as healing from an indigenous perspective including discussion of traditional symbolic cross-cultural healing practices and concepts of healing and wellness; the origins of the arts as a diagnostic tool from traditional perspectives, complexes as a healing function and the use of multi-arts processes to address the healing of developmental, traumatic and cultural wounding.
Indigenous artist, teacher & Elder
This workshop offers participants exposure to a local Indigenous world view through Indigenous art and personal art-making. Participants will explore methodologies, concepts, cultural perspectives, ceremony and art forms of Indigenous people of Manitoba. In addition, there will be an exploration into how art can assist in the reconciliation process as a tool for healing, self-understanding and dialogue.
WHEAT’s Expressive Arts Certificate program begins with a ten-day intensive (July 16 – 26, 2019) that will include Studio classes with Marg Janick-Grayston, MDiv, REACE, Dohee Lee and Darci Adam, WHEAT Director. Students will explore the theoretical foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy and learn hands-on strategies for healing through art-making, drama, music, writing and movement.
This is followed by Practicum Skills with Darci Adam, an applied counselling course offered over a series of 5 Saturdays (Zoom option can be made available for students outside of Manitoba), and Expressive Arts Therapy: Personal and Professional Practice, a series of 6 weekends with guest instructors specializing in mindfulness, poetry, creative drama, Indigenous arts and movement. This training is relevant for use in schools, agencies, recreation settings, private practice and for self-care.
Students can register for individual courses and individual Personal & Professional Practice weekends.
Expressive Arts Certificate student:
“Having been a student services teacher for more than a decade I have had many opportunities to support students through a myriad of experiences. The students in our classrooms have experienced loss, anxiety, mental illness and trauma. Every WHEAT learning opportunity provides me with knowledge and strategies that I can immediately implement with my students. I have witnessed a marked difference in my students’ success and mostly in my ability to help them on their healing journey. WHEAT learning is the perfect balance of theory and practical experiences. My new knowledge and framework for understanding and supporting students is changing the way I support students. Students are more receptive to the new interventions and are demonstrating increased participation and internalization of wellness, and skill generalization for self-care, student learning, managing emotions and interactions with others. This immersive learning experiences is refreshing and empowering!”
Expressive Arts Diploma student:
"Entering the WHEAT Expressive Art Therapy diploma program has presented so many life-altering and life-affirming moments. Along this incredible journey of learning and self-discovery, I have often paused and considered how fortunate I have been to connect to the incredible faculty and fellow students. In a word, WHEAT is transformative!"
There has been much research exploring the use of the arts with refugees healing from conflict, displacement and trauma. According to the literature, the creative arts therapies (art, music, dance, drama, storytelling and movement) are not only able to connect individuals, but can help promote integration which leads to positive transformation and therapeutic change. Akthar & Lovell (2018) describe how these creative therapies often create a temporary home for refugees in the acculturation process, by serving as a safe and transitional space. This safe space provides the opportunity to heal and gives them a voice.
Much like the recognized health benefits of creative expression for mental health, Dieterich-Hartwell & Koch (2017) identify how art therapy with refugees helps to (1) give them a voice, (2) rebuild trust, (3) share stories and (4) explore their identity and discover their new “self”. Art-making through visual art, music, drama or dance and movement not only represents a safe space in which clients are encouraged to integrate different pieces of their identity through self- and creative- expression, but also helps build the bridge between their homeland and new environment.
Evaluating Art Therapy to Heal the Effects of Trauma Among Refugee Youth: The Burma Art Therapy Program Evaluation concluded that the use of art therapy provided a unique opportunity for refugee youth populations to benefit from a transcultural and positive-framed approach to mental health, and recommended further consideration of the use of creative arts therapies in post-conflict contexts.
Zahra Akthar & Andrew Lovell (2018) Art therapy with refugee children: a qualitative study explored through the lens of art therapists and their experiences, International Journal of Art Therapy, DOI: 10.1080/17454832.2018.1533571
Rebekka Dieterich-Hartwell & Sabine C. Koch (2017) Creative Arts Therapies as Temporary Home for Refugees: Insights from Literature and Practice, Beahvorial Science, 7(4): 69, DOI: 10.3390/bs7040069
The following are a couple of examples of how art therapy has helped refugees heal in Uganda and Syria:
Art Therapy: Refugees in Ugandan Camp Using Drawing and Drama to Heal Trauma
Run by refugees from DRC and Burundi, Opportunigee is the first and only entrepreneur network in the Nakivale refugee camp. Members have started art-therapy initiatives to help young refugees heal from conflict and displacement. Art therapy helps provide a supportive environment where the children can talk openly about traumatic experiences, using art to express their feelings and overcome stress.
Syrian Refugees Explore Their Grief Through Art Therapy
An art therapy workshop for Syrian refugees was organized in Jordan. The workshop was meant to give refugee children an opportunity for self-expression, and a way to deal with the trauma they have endured the past five years.
Supporting displaced people through art making and art therapy.
Established in 2006, Art Refuge UK works through art and art therapy with people who have been displaced due to political or religious persecution, armed conflict, trafficking, natural disaster and/or poverty. Their team of artists and art therapists deliver culturally relevant and responsive programmes in a wide range of contexts across the UK, Europe and internationally.
The Red Pencil: Humanitarian Mission
When words are not enough, art can help.
The Red Pencil brings the power of art therapy around the world to children and families who have been through traumatic life circumstances. Their programmes help individuals heal and grow through the arts, by offering an alternative way of expression towards balance, empowerment and resilience. Click HERE to watch the video below.
Transforming Lives through Public Art.
Artolution is a community-based public art organization that seeks to ignite positive social change through collaborative art making. Their projects bring together children, families, local artists, educators and community groups to address critical issues related to armed conflict, trauma and social marginalization by cultivating sustainable global initiatives that promote reconciliation, healing and resilience.
N.E.E.D.S. provides accessible services and support to immigrant and refugee children and youth and their families in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They help provide employment, education and social programs to develop life skills. They also run after-school art programming for children and youth.
Authored by The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Jan Stewart and Dr. Lorna Martin, Bridging Two Worlds: Supporting Newcomer and Refugee Youth provides teachers, school administrators and counsellors with practical resources to help students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 navigate school and connect it to careers and their future. More information can be found HERE!
We are excited to welcome:
Tzafi Weinberg to teach the Art Therapy Studio class in February. Tzafi studied art therapy at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, BC, and currently is a Doctorate student at Mount Mary University, Milwaukee. She is knowledgeable in the area of attachment and trauma, specifically with Indigenous children and adolescents. She believes that Art therapy can contribute to the reconciliation process with Indigenous people.
The Expressive Arts Therapy Studio class (July 22-25) will have an exciting addition! Born on Jeju Island in South Korea, Dohee Lee studied Korean dance, music, percussion and vocals at the master level. Since her arrival in the US she has been a vital contributor to both the traditional and contemporary arts landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Dohee’s work focuses on integration of traditional forms and contemporary arts through music, movement, images, costumes and installation.
The video above demonstrates some of Dohee's social oriented work in South Korea.
Maria Riccardi will be teaching the first year Art Therapy classes summer 2019. Maria is a registered art therapist, career counselor, licensed clinical psychotherapist and the former president of the Associationdes art-thérapeutes du Québec. She is an adjunct professor of art therapy at Concordia University and a part-time professor at l’Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. She collaborates with local non-profit organizations and mental health institutions, developing community-based art studio programs for adolescents and adults who are marginalized due to mental and physical health issues, immigration issues, and poverty. She has expertise with veterans living with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder within the context of trauma intervention as well as in the evaluation of art processes and products during treatment. She has founded a clinic in Montreal based on the Expressive Therapies Continuum, providing educational and emotional support to children and families.
Good things are on the horizon for WHEAT and our students!
Registration is open for our 2019 Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma programs starting this summer. Check out our website for more details and email info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in applying to any of our programs or our drop in professional development classes.
We want to take a moment to say thank you and acknowledge the immense contribution of Art Therapy instructor Karen Wallace.
Karen is an art therapist, artist, art instructor, educator and trainer. Karen joined the WHEAT faculty in 2016 with the inaugural Art Therapy Diploma cohort. She since has been integral to our Art Therapy Diploma program, teaching the first year Art Therapy classes in the summer and Focus Centred Art Therapy in the fall - one of our most popular classes!
Karen was the first instructor our students met and was highly regarded as a Master teacher. We received glowing feedback from our students that acknowledged Karen's expertise and mentorship as they began their art therapy training. Karen celebrated the first graduating class of art therapists in Manitoba on November 11, 2018 in WHEAT’s first graduation ceremony.
"The Art Therapy Diploma summer intensive, instructed by Karen Wallace, was hard core, enlightening and I cannot wait to dive further into Art Therapy over the next few years. It's really hard to put into words just how amazing it was! I would definitely suggest this program to anyone interested in Art Therapy." - Art Therapy Diploma student
“Rich, in-depth learning opportunity with a master teacher in Focusing. Thank you Karen!” - Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma student
In her private practice Karen works with adults and children. She also teaches in Educational Counselling Psychology, Social Work, and Early Childhood Education at the University of Regina, and is looking forward to the release of her new book Trauma Informed Teaching Through Play, Art and Narrative coming out in 2019.
Thank you Karen for your dedication and support in training Manitoba's first class(es) of Art Therapists!
With Gratitude,
WHEAT Institute
The WHEAT team would like to sincerely thank each and everyone who has supported our work in training art therapists and expressive art therapists in the heart of the prairies! We are excited and honoured to continue our efforts by nurturing the dedication and passion for the therapeutic use of the arts. This past year was a momentous one as we celebrated the first graduating class of art therapists. We end 2018 with over 25 students training in the creative therapies, and dozens more that have enrolled in individual classes for professional development.
Here is a short recap of some of our significant milestones from the last year and what we are most looking forward to in the new year:
January – Di Brandt, Winnipeg’s first Poet Laureate, taught her first class exploring Poetry in Expressive Arts Therapy with WHEAT. This was followed by a second class held in August with our Diploma students.
April – WHEAT hosted the first Little Stones documentary screening in Winnipeg
May – WHEAT Director Darci Adam and drama therapy sessional instructor Csilla Przibislawsky were two of the creative arts therapists on the “I Know More Than I Can Say: Five Creative Arts Therapists in Clinical Practice” panel organized by the Creative Arts in Counselling Chapter of CCPA at the annual conference held in Winnipeg
July – classes began for the new 2018 Art Therapy cohort and students enrolled in a dual diploma – a combined Art Therapy & Expressive Arts Therapy program (first of its kind!)
July – in partnership with the Sioux Lookout Youth Poverty Reduction Strategy WHEAT Director Darci Adam and sessional instructors Linda Manitowabi & Tanja Woloshen traveled to Sioux Lookout, Ontario to teach WHEAT's Expressive Arts Therapy: Theory & Practice class
Summer – WHEAT started developing the first Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program in central Canada! We are looking forward to launching this new program next summer 2019 with the support of experienced instructors and therapeutic clowns from across Canada
August – David Langdon, Winnipeg’s most experienced Therapeutic Clown, taught his first class in Clowning with WHEAT
September – classes in Expressive Arts Therapy began in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Participants will have the opportunity to complete the full certificate program over the next year (September – August 2019). This is the first time our training has been offered outside of Winnipeg!
September – WHEAT hosted a Culture Days drumming event with Val Vint & the Buffalo Gals and Jay Stoller & Drum Café at the Forks Oodena Celebration Circle
October – a video montage of the 2017 IEATA Conference, co-hosted by WHEAT and held in Winnipeg last October 2017, was released. Watch it HERE!
November – WHEAT celebrated the class of 2018 - the first graduating class of WHEAT and the first graduating class of art therapists in central Canada! We held a special ceremony and celebration on November 11th with over 70 guests in attendance.
November – announcement of the new Clown Play course with David Langdon, to be offered in a series of Saturday classes (January - May 2019)
There is lots to be excited for in the new year. Our intention is to open up registration for the new Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program as soon as possible. We also welcome expressive arts expert Kate Donohue back to Winnipeg to teach her two classes in August (both of her classes will be open for professional development - click HERE to learn more) and we will have the addition of several new instructors, including Tzafi Weinberg who will be teaching our Art Therapy Studio class in February and Maria Riccardi who will be leading our first year Art Therapy classes next summer. There may also be a couple other new faces ... announcements to come soon!
WHEAT wishes all our students, instructors, staff, volunteers and community supporters – past and present - a very bright holiday and warm new year! See you in 2019.
With gratitude,
WHEAT Institute
On November 11th, the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute celebrated the first graduating class of Art Therapists in Winnipeg at the historic St. Norbert Arts Centre.
As the only art therapy training institute in central Canada we celebrated and honoured our first graduating class of Art Therapists on Sunday, November 11th at the St. Norbert Arts Centre with prayers, a smudge, a ceremony, open mic, dance and bonfire. It was a dynamic, fun and memorable evening!
WHEAT Institute offers top-quality training programs in Art Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy and (new for 2019) Therapeutic Clowning. Established in 2014, WHEAT accepted its first cohort of Art Therapy Diploma students in 2016.
Hailing from Winnipeg, rural Manitoba and rural Saskatchewan, WHEAT grads work in a variety of art therapy related disciplines and have engaging stories to tell of their research and their journeys to realize their dreams of becoming art therapists.
We launched seven talented and compassionate new art therapists into the world with our first annual graduation. There were prayers by the fire and drum song, grand entry with the big drum, photo slideshow of our two years together and lots of attention to the diverse and interesting research these grads carried out on route to becoming art therapists.
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this a night to remember! Special shout outs to our grads and their friends and families, instructors, students, supporters and friends of WHEAT Institute and WHEAT Director Darci Adam.
View the full photo album on the WHEAT Facebook page. Congratulations to our class of 2018!
Art therapy provides an alternative, cooperative and creative approach for addressing emotional and psychological difficulties with a firm basis in psychodynamic theory and developmental psychology. The Art Therapy Diploma at WHEAT is an intensive program spanning the course of two summer intensives, online coursework, practicum experience and supervision, and a final research project.
“Art therapy combines the creative process and psychotherapy, facilitating self-exploration and understanding. Using imagery, colour and shape as part of this creative therapeutic process, thoughts and feelings can be expressed that would otherwise be difficult to articulate.” - Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA)
Dawn Chaput came to Art Therapy with a background in community resources and the arts. She is grateful to bring these two paths together through art therapy, along with her belief that we are all on a healing journey. She is dedicated to the decolonization of therapeutic practice and centers her work around a holistic view that integrates all aspects of wellness through a person-centered lens. She is passionate about being a helper in a way that supports people in finding their way, through the art process, to wellbeing.
Donna Garofalo is currently the children's counsellor with Eastman Crisis Centre's Agape House shelter for women and children. Delivering art-based programming through Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg, the St. James School Division, the Steinbach Arts Council and various home school collectives, Donna has worked directly with thousands of children across the province. In her artistic practice, Donna has exhibited work in a variety of gallery settings and her work is held in private collections across Canada, the U.S. and overseas. Donna now uses her experience to support the process of healing for children and families seeking to move beyond the negative effects of domestic abuse. Donna's approach unites thoughtfully applied art therapy interventions rooted in a supportive framework of child development, attachment theory and current understanding of neurobiology. Donna holds a BFA (Honours) and a BA (psych) from the University of Manitoba. Donna has completed her coursework and will be completing her thesis and practicum hours in 2019.
Angela Meyer graduated from the WHEAT Institute as an art therapist after working as a social worker for over 15 years following graduation from the University of Manitoba with a BSW. She has a passion for working with the images that facilitate one to become the greater expression of one’s authentic self. She has a person-centred philosophy and utilizes a variety of approaches tailored to the individual. These approaches include a psychodynamic approach, cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, solution focused therapy, attachment theory and an existential approach. She has counselled individuals and groups and has facilitated an open art studio for over five years. She is currently employed at Sara Riel Inc. as a social worker for over 10 years and has extensive experience working with individuals experiencing mental health difficulties.
Joye Platford completed her expressive arts therapy training with Darci and shortly after enrolled in the art therapy diploma.She describes herself as a daughter, sister, auntie, ordained Presbyterian minister, teacher, cancer survivor, friend and ally. Her thesis was 'Eve and Me.' It is a look at women’s understanding of Eve in the bible as an archetype and how that effects their own spirituality and self understanding. Eve and woman have been blamed for many downfalls of the world. But that only comes from a Western Christian worldview - such is not the case for Eastern Orthodox Christians or Aboriginal Spirituality or many other faiths. When women look at the story of Eve closer they can find strength and resilience. Instead of looking for the original sin, we can look for the original blessing, "We were made in the image of God, male and female.' We are loved, Women and men - all people are children of the Creator.
Dana Stefanson BFA, DWHEAT, is an emerging art therapist with a background in the arts and education. Dana is passionate about using art therapy in closing the gap between the available services for mental health treatment and the growing need for innovative, culturally sensitive, holistic, accessible care. She believes that by treating not just the whole person, but the whole family, the whole community, with a natural, expressive, intergenerational approach, the cycle of trauma can be addressed, and a healthful transformation achieved. Her roots in rural Saskatchewan and involvement with many community organizations have shown her that in difficult times if people can come together with care and support, any obstacle, injury,grief or trauma can be overcome.
That is why Dana believes that an important piece of the puzzle is making mental health services accessible, especially for marginalized populations, by offering it in community settings. She is interested in suicide prevention, improving educational and mental health outcomes, reconciliation, relationship building, empowerment, and lifelong learning. Dana operates an open art studio and private practice, and works as an education assistant.
Joanna Watt graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts (1999), double major in Studio Art and Communication. After immigrating to Canada, she completed her Art Therapy Diploma (2018) with WHEAT Institute. Joanna has worked as a Mental Health Proctor III for Prairie Mountain Health since 2012. Her private practice, Pipestone Art Therapy, is located in the RES Center in Reston, Manitoba. Working with agency’s from Southwest Manitoba and individual clients of all ages, Joanna is passionate about making mental health services accessible to rural communities.
Sue Weldon is a mother, grandmother,educator and art therapist who first discovered the transformational power of art as an adolescent. She has since used the creative process to parent, teach,and to heal. She currently works as a resource teacher with adolescents with intensive needs in a school setting, where she bears witness to the transformative power of art in others.
Therapeutic Clowns Canada is a network of professional therapeutic clown practitioners working in healthcare facilities and communities across Canada. They define a professional therapeutic clown as one who:
· is specifically trained to work in the health care field
· abides by a code of ethics
· is committed to be a regular presence in the health care setting
· collaborates routinely with other members of the health care team
· engages in on-going training and development
· receives appropriate remuneration for the work
"With their focus on the imaginative and the creative, therapeutic clowns offer new opportunities for play and laughter, for self-expression and self-acceptance, for mastery and empowerment, and for moments of tenderness and comfort. We believe that these interactions have an impact on everyone's experiences and perceptions, and thus help to humanize the health care setting.We honour and respect those we serve (patient, resident, family and staff), and offer ourselves as resources they may freely choose to access. We believe that we are co-creators with them, and that the joy, creativity, tenderness, and wealth of benefits arising from our exchanges are a collective creation of all involved. As therapeutic clowns, we see our role as being supportive and inspirational in nature, facilitating and encouraging emotional well-being. The patient, resident, family or staff member is the one whose imagination and creativity we wish to foster, celebrate and set free."
(from the statement of Principles of CATC/ACCT* Therapeutic Clowns Canada was formerly a professional association called the “Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns/ L’Association Canadienne des Clowns Therapeutiques” (CATC-ACCT))
We are excited to be working with Therapeutic Clown, and Child Life Specialist at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital, David Langdon to introduce clowning to the Winnipeg community! David is considered an elder in the Canadian therapeutic clown community. He is a founding member of CATC/ACCT and has been featured in various media and presented and led workshops at numerous conferences and events. In 2006 he received the Robo Award for excellence in therapeutic clowning by the Ontario Hospital Association.
This winter/spring David will be offering a Clown and Clown Play: An Introduction class, open to adults with an interest in artistic clown. Theatre experience or previous training is not a requirement. The intention is to introduce, promote and generate clown excitement in Winnipeg!
The course will focus on the art of clown and the formation of clown persona. It will be in workshop form with some video. This workshop format will comprise of clown training exercises, games and play scenarios to facilitate the student’s exploration of an emerging clown character. Students will engage in “clown play”, and explore the relationship between clown, the pleasure of play, and sharing this pleasure with an audience.
Through clown play and theatre exercises the student will explore and use:
• The principles of "finding the game", "the pleasure of play", "sharing one's pleasure" and "advancing the game"
• The clown play dialogue
• The principle of complicity and "the wink"
• A personal clown persona
• The red nose as mask
• "Tics", “fixed point”, and modulation of tempos to physically support one’s inner clown
• Costume and make-up as a means to accentuate and support the inner clown persona
• Improvisational skills in clowning
• The roles of clown as both balance bringer and order breaker
• High and low status in clown and how status can be modulated
• Classic clown “lazzi”
Clown and Clown Play: An Introduction is tentatively scheduled for 10 Saturdays between mid-January – end of May. Please email info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in having your name added to the list of interested students! We will email more information once finalized.
And we are working towards launching a new Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program next summer! This training will be intended for adults with theatre and previous clown experience. More details to come.
This past Friday, October 19th 2018, WHEAT was present at the MTS PD Day (Manitoba Teachers Society - Professional Development Day) for MART and MSCA - Manitoba Association of Resource Teachers and Manitoba School Counselors Association, respectively. It was great connecting with teachers and school staff about the therapeutic use of the arts!
Our 200-hour Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program offers an experiential exploration of the therapeutic use of the arts. Designed with School Counselors and Resource Teachers in mind, classes take place on weekends during the school year and are eligible for credit with the University of Winnipeg. You may also elect to register individually for courses or drop-in for weekend workshops.
Expressive Arts Studio: Theory & Practice and Practicum Skills - a series of 8 weekends
Expressive Arts Therapy: Personal and Professional Practice – a series of 5 weekends that explore mindfulness, poetry, creative drama, Indigenous knowledge and movement!
Registration Deadline: October 31st, 2018 More information can be found at http://wheatinstitute.com/aeatipp
The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) published a blog about the benefits of school-based art therapy. Children and youth benefit from art therapy in a variety of ways. Research has shown that children with autism may use art to communicate and hospital patients, such as children in cancer wards, are often comforted by art therapy. However, art therapy is not only beneficial to children with special needs or those facing long-term hospital care. AATA believes that one way to make art therapy accessible to every child is to bring it to the schools.
"Creating art promotes sequential reasoning and organization of thought for those faced with overwhelming feelings but lacking the coping mechanisms to properly process them. Art can serve as a way to map pictorially that which cannot be examined verbally. Order can be visually established in the midst of psychological chaos."
Further information about using art therapy in the classrooms can be found in this paper written by William C. Forrester (Regis University, 2007) Art Therapy in the Mainstream Classroom. Forrester writes that "[t]he purpose of this project will be to provide art educators with a curricular unit plan that is based on the premise of art therapy."
If you are interested in learning more about our Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate, or any of the individual courses or weekends, please send an email to info@wheatinstitute.com
Thank you to everyone who attended our Culture Days drum circles on September 29th! The sun came out to join us in rhythm and community. We started the afternoon with Val Vint and the Buffalo Gals leading an Indigenous drum circle, followed by African drumming with Jay Stoller and Drum Cafe Winnipeg. We were so happy to be part of the hundreds of drumming and rhythm-inspired events that occurred across the country in celebration of Culture Days and Nuit Blanche. Scroll down for some photos from our afternoon!
All photos were taken by Sam MacKinnon, our Social Media Coordinator.
WHEAT Institute is very excited to be included among more than 7,500 free activities that are already registered to take place in some 900 communities across Canada as part of the 9th anniversary of Culture Days happening on September 28, 29 and 30, 2018. This year’s theme is “On Beat”, drumming and rhythm inspired activities.
Métis cultural teacher Val Vint has been offering drumming and singing circles around Manitoba for more than 30 years. Born in Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Val draws from a background of photography, ceramics, painting, engineering, design, theatre, writing, performance and public art, music, travel and work with other Indigenous peoples. Val's present direction is influenced by her heritage as her genealogy stems from community artists and activists known throughout Manitoba's history. Val will be joined by members of the Buffalo Gals, an Indigenous Style Drumming Group that was founded in January 2004. Now over 50 women and girls of all ages gather together to drum, sing, and celebrate the Indigenous culture. The group provides an outlet for artistic development, role modelling, self-expression, and healing.
Jay Stoller is an African drumming specialist who has studied African music for over 20 years and operates the Drum Café in Winnipeg for the past 8 years. He is also the musical director and lead drummer for Nafro Dance. Jay’s background includes intensive study of African Drumming and culture in the country of Ghana, West Africa, where he lived for over 4 years. That experience has led him down a path where he is now a highly sought-after performer, teacher and facilitator.
Drumming circles are a joyous and gentle pathway to community development and harmony and are an experiential way to share Indigenous teachings.
On September 29th the public is invited to join WHEAT in a cross-cultural drumming extravaganza! Free and open to the public, you will be encouraged to drum and dance alongside Val and Jay.
EVENT DETAILS
DATE / TIME: Saturday, September 29th at 3 – 5 pm
3 - 4 pm: Val Vint and the Buffalo Gals
4 - 5 pm: Jay Stoller of Drum Cafe
LOCATION: Oodena Celebration Circle at the Forks
Drums, shakers and other instruments will be provided. Dress for the weather as we will be outside.
CULTURE DAYS EVENT
FACEBOOK EVENT
Celebrating its 9th Anniversary, Culture Days will be celebrated in hundreds of cities and towns from coast to coast to coast, with thousands of free activities from a wide range of disciplines including: visual arts, music, dance, theatre, architecture, heritage, film and video, literature, culinary arts and new media. To learn more, please visit www.culturedays.ca
Happy fall!
While many students returned to school this past week, our art therapy and expressive arts therapy diploma students have wrapped up their summer intensives and are moving forward with their practicum placements and online coursework.
The summer started with our second year diploma students learning how to work with groups, youth and seniors. They also completed classes on using art therapy to address addictions and spent two days immersed in the world of business, learning basic skills to help establish their own private practices.
Students were invited to a series of experimental learning classes - including drama therapy and modalities in the expressive arts.
"Principles of Drama Therapy with Csilla Przibislawsky was such a nourishing experience, where I completed the course with an abundance of tools and knowledge that can be integrated into my practice. Csilla taught beautifully and seamlessly in way that allowed for easy understanding of the material through a very experiential way of learning. I'm very grateful for this experience!"
Students explored the use of poetry with Di Brandt (Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate) and embraced their inner clowns with our first Therapeutic Clowning class!
"Not only was the clowning course fun and interactive, but I gained so much knowledge in the wonderful, powerful healing world of therapeutic clowning. We need more clowns!"
These were followed by our much-loved movement (Butoh dance) class, where students explore the beauty, expression and freedom of moving! Expressive arts therapy students spent five days with Kathleen Horne, an instructor seen as an "asset to the expressive arts therapy field" by our students. First and second-year students also explored Indigenous woodland style art with Victoria McIntosh. Be sure to check out our last blog post for photos of their beautiful art work!
Our summer intensives concluded with our first year art therapy students spending 10 days with Karen Wallace, where they looked at the different research, skills and techniques of art therapy and were introduced to working with trauma.
During our last week of art therapy classes WHEAT had a surprise visitor! John Reyes, MLA for St. Norbert, was at the St. Norbert Arts Centre (SNAC) to announce the government’s commitment to local investments by awarding a community places grant of $35,554 to help support SNAC’s Accessibility Upgrade Project. While he was there he dropped in to say hello to our students.
As the summer wraps up WHEAT is looking ahead to our fall and winter classes. We will soon be announcing all the final workshop dates for the Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program which begins in November. There are also a couple of spots left in our popular Focus Centred Art Therapy class with Karen Wallace November 9-12.
If you are interested in registering for any of our classes or programs please contact us info@wheatinstitute.com
From August 19-22, 2018, WHEAT Institute Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma program students studied together under the direction of Victoria McIntosh in the course Indigenous Ways of Knowing Through the Arts.
The class offered participants exposure to a local Indigenous world view through Indigenous art and personal art-making. Students explored methodologies, concepts, cultural perspectives, ceremony, and art forms of Indigenous peoples of Manitoba. In addition, students explored how art can assist in the reconciliation process as a tool for healing, self-understanding, and dialogue.
The days are longer and warmer, which means WHEAT's summer courses have begun! In June we held our final weekend together with our (first!) graduating Art Therapy Diploma cohort. We are excited to host a graduation celebration in the fall.
Our 2017 Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy diploma students will start their summer intensives mid-July, and we are looking forward to welcoming our new 2018 cohorts later in the month!
It is not too late to join us! You can register for one of our drop-in professional development courses offered in July, August or November in Drama, Poetry, Clowning, Movement, Indigenous Arts or Focus Centered Art Therapy. All dates can be found below. Send us an email at info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in attending any of these classes.
Want more from WHEAT Institute? Subscribe to our newsletter HERE and receive a free PDF with art therapy-inspired exercises for the classroom. We send 2-3 emails a month with course programming updates, job postings, art therapy news, community arts events in and around Winnipeg, and more. Unsubscribe anytime.
We will be taking a short break from publishing new blog posts, so watch for our return in September! Have a rejuvenating and safe summer!
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As conference co-chairs, we were inspired by the findings of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the resulting 94 Calls to Action to honour and amplify respect for Indigenous ways of knowing and to improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. October 2017, we gathered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the heart of Turtle Island - Manitouabee – the Straight of the Great Spirit. As a global expressive arts community, we were in wonderful anticipation of using all of our senses and capacities to immerse ourselves in our conference: Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts - Globally and Locally: Transformation, Social Justice and Social Change.
We started our journey with an invitation to Decolonize through the Arts during a 5-day pre-conference workshop at Windy Hill, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. This beautiful forest venue offered a welcoming place to retreat and learn from Armand Volkas and Victoria McIntosh through meaningful engagements with drama therapy activities, art and Indigenous knowledge. A highlight of our pre-conference offerings was Elder Dave Courchene’s workshop at Turtle Lodge Indigenous healing centre in which we were invited to reconnect to our spirits and the Earth in celebration of our interconnectedness. From that place, we learned ancient Indigenous knowledge based on the 7 Sacred Teachings of the Anishnaabe. Pre-conference speakers Armand Volkas, Lita Fontaine, Kate Donohue and Allen Sutherland were all noted as providing an exceptional start to a weekend full of activities!
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Our daily conference keynote speakers inspired and stretched us to wrap our hearts and minds around Indigenous teachings and worldview, and we took in a vast array of breakout sessions to allow experiential exploration of the topics. Our evenings and free time were filled with events that connected us to Winnipeg’s rich cultural heritage including a highlight visit to the stunning and informative Canadian Museum of Human Rights. On Friday evening we were invited to laugh and share in Tomson Highway’s stories and music at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Saturday evening we experienced teachings of local Indigenous Elders and pioneers in the field of expressive arts, capping off the evening with a drumming and African dance party with Casimiro Nhussi.
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The conference was a powerful experience that united us and welcomed positive energy and active participation in the junction between Indigenous teachings and the expressive arts. The weekend concluded with a planetary dance of joyful celebration of our time together! With the willingness, openness and curiosity that nourishes a good journey, we were left feeling wiser, braver, healthier and happier, and with many new friends and perspectives to enrich the journeys that followed.
We have maintained a Facebook page at Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts and welcome your engagement there. We will be following our immersion experience up with a second annual WHEAT retreat The Art of Sacred Play at Windy Hill August 27th – 31st, 2018 with Indigenous Culture and Language teacher, Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner, meditation teacher and master of contemplative art practice in the Shambhala tradition. We hope to see you there or in San Francisco in 2019!
All our relations,
Darci Adam and Renee McGurry, IEATA Conference 2017 Co-Chairs
* View the conference summary page on IEATA's website HERE
The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute offers diploma and certificate programs that provide students with an experiential and theoretical foundation in the therapeutic use of art, drama, movement and storytelling. As part of WHEAT's Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma Programs our students complete practicum hours at different sites across Winnipeg, Manitoba and even Canada!
The Art Therapy 2-year diploma provides an alternative, cooperative, and creative approach for addressing emotional and psychological difficulties through the therapeutic use of the arts. Graduates of this program will have the training required to register as professional members of the Canadian Art Therapy Association.
The Expressive Arts Therapy 2-year diploma provides an alternative, cooperative and creative approach for amplifying wellness and addressing emotional and psychological difficulties through the therapeutic use of the arts. This may include art, drama, dance, music and writing. Graduates of this program will have the training necessary to begin the registration process as professional members of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association as either Registered Expressive Arts Therapists (REAT) or Registered Expressive Arts Consultants (REACE).
Our students will complete practicum hours at different sites to fulfill their program requirements. The practicum placement is an opportunity for students to apply and integrate knowledge acquired during coursework. Students meet with clients in a local community agency or organization to enhance and develop their techniques and skills to use the arts therapeutically. Students carry out client contact hours, which consist of one-on-one sessions or group sessions in which expressive arts, drama, or art therapy techniques and modalities are used.
Students will:
Some of the places student’s complete practicum hours at include schools, hospitals, nursing homes, social services agencies, recourse centres, women's shelters, private practices and community organizations / groups. Students often work with some of the most vulnerable populations which may include children and youth, special needs groups, hospital patients, survivors, seniors and refugees.
CancerCare Manitoba is one example of the use of art therapy for those undergoing cancer treatments. There have been studies that confirm the benefits of art therapy in helping chronic patients cope with hospitalization and provide support through treatments. You can read an article HERE and a case study from Concordia University on the use of art therapy with children in hospitals HERE. One of our Expressive Arts Therapy students has also been involved in helping start a new art therapy program at A Port in the Storm - a safe haven for rural and northern adults living in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario who must travel to and remain in Winnipeg to receive medical care. We have received nothing but positive feedback - guests love this addition to the available activities!
One of our Art Therapy students has developed a new program offered at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba. This program was recently featured on CTV News. Learn more about inspiring people with dementia through art! The benefits of creative arts for people experiencing dementia and alzheimer's has been well documented. You can read more about using art and expressive arts therapy with seniors HERE. We have also had an Art Therapy student introduce art therapy into the Selkirk & District Seniors Resource Council Inc. programming for 65+ seniors living in the Selkirk area.
Several of our students work with agencies that offer support for those recovering from addictions, violence and trauma. Addictions Foundation of Manitoba provides residential and community-based addictions services, including individual and group counselling, for those experiencing problems with alcohol, drugs, or gambling. Agape House – Eastman Crisis Centre, Inc. offers support for women in crisis. Our students take courses in addressing addictions, working with trauma, and working with seniors, children and groups. Art therapy has proven to be beneficial in trauma recovery, and we invite you to read more about trauma-informed expressive arts therapy HERE.
As a mental health profession art therapy is employed in many clinical and non-clinical settings. Using their evaluative and psychotherapy skills, art therapists choose materials and interventions appropriate to their clients' needs and design sessions to achieve therapeutic goals and objectives. They use the creative process to help their clients cope with stress or illness; work through traumatic experiences; increase cognitive, memory and neurosensory abilities; improve relationships; and achieve greater self-fulfillment. The purpose is ultimately one of healing.
Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy practicum hours can be completed anywhere there is a need! If you, or your organization / program, are interested in hosting a practicum student from WHEAT Institute please contact wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com to learn more.
A Port in the Storm is in need of some additional supplies for the new art therapy program. Below is a list. Please email wheatinstitute@gmail.com if you would like to donate.
Plastic containers (small margarine or soup size, about 1L)
Tubes from gift wrap and paper towels
Buttons
Beads
Yarn
Coloured tissue paper
White paper – tabloid size (11 X 17)
Poster Paper
Bristol Board
Small canvas (3X5, 5X7, 8X11)
Musical instruments (guitar, percussion)
Sewing machine
Rags for Cleaning
WHEAT is excited to announce that we will be offering a 5-day experiential art, play and spiritual practice workshop with Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner this August!
The Art of Sacred Play: Dharma & Indigenous Teachings Through Meditation & Contemplative Art Practice will be offered August 27-31, 2018 at Windy Hill Retreat Centre (near Traverse Bay Corners on East Lake Winnipeg). Participants will be immersed in the Indigenous Anishinaabe and Shambhala-Buddhist worldviews through art-making and experiential learning - being guided through prayer, meditation and contemplative art activities in music, calligraphy, movement and poetry.
Join Anishnaabe Language and Cultural teacher and art therapist Linda Manitowabi, and Shambhala Dharma art teacher and music historian Lance Brunner in this 5-day experiential art, play and spiritual practice workshop, which merges two venerable wisdom traditions to offer teachings and practices helpful in living a good life – mino-binaadiziwin. The workshop is offered within the current Canadian context of reconciliation, wherein Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are called to cross over to understand each other. Quickly we realize we knew very little about each other in the first place and have the opportunity to begin anew – as if meeting for the first time. By approaching awareness and knowledge from these two perspectives, we hope to foster deeper understanding, greater possibilities for peace, and increased interest in, respect, and compassion for each other and the natural world.
Linda will teach, and lead exercises drawn from the Indigenous Anishinaabe worldview and the Four Directions to guide us to create balance and harmony in our body, mind, spirit, and emotional well-being. Lance will do the same from the Shambhala-Buddhist tradition, and in particular the so-called Dharma Art teaching of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan founder of Shambhala.
From an Anishnaabe perspective, teaching, understanding, sharing, and healing starts in a symbolic Circle that creates balance in the Universe. In the Sacred Circle we can bring our minds together as one. We are all one and the same in a Circle and on Mother Earth. All our Anishinaabe teachings follow the natural laws of the Circle. From a Buddhist perspective, Trungpa Rinpoche showed through both his example and his teachings how one can lead one’s life as a work of art, as a means of perceiving beauty and meaning in everyday life. Dharma Art emerges out of meditative awareness and a profound sense of nonaggression, wherein we experience the capacity to meet the phenomenal world as not separate from us.
This 5-day retreat will provide participants an immersion into both worldviews through art-making and experiential learning. You will be gently and playfully guided through prayer, meditation, and contemplative arts activities in music, calligraphy, movement, and poetry. The sacred is in the daily, and we are all inter-connected. Through living artfully, with mindfulness and awareness, we can be of greater service to each other and better stewards of our environment.
When: August 27 - 31, 2018 We will begin at 9 am on Monday, August 27th and end in the late afternoon Friday, August 31st
Where: Windy Hill Retreat Centre. Learn more about this welcoming place of retreat and learning located at Hillside Beach, Manitoba HERE
Instructors: Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner. Learn more about them on our faculty page HERE
Proceeds after expenses will support the Elder Harry Bone Award for Indigenous students training with WHEAT Institute.
Full Cost: $1,100 before July 1st ($1,200 after July 1st) covers full 5-day retreat, all meals and accommodations. Accommodation is provided at the Windy Hill Retreat Centre. Senior/Student/Sliding Scale is $900 before July 1st ($1000 after July 1st).
Workshop only: $500 before July 1st ($700 after July 1st).
To Register: fill out the registration form and send a completed copy to info@wheatinstitute.com by August 13th, 2018. Register before July 1st to receive discounted price.
Please join us on this journey!
WHEAT Director Darci Adam (pictured above, left) and Drama Therapy sessional instructor Csilla Przibislawsky (right) were two of the creative arts therapists on the Creative Arts in Counselling panel May 12th! There are approximately 281 members of the Creative Arts in Counselling Chapter of CCPA.
The five (Manitoba based) creative arts therapists sitting on the panel were:
1. Darci Adam – expressive arts therapist
2. Lee-Ann Adams – music therapist
3. Tanis Dick – art therapist
4. Karissa Marten – dance/movement therapist
5. Csilla Przibislawsky – drama therapist
The therapists were presented a clinical case study on Ian, a 12-year-old boy, and were asked to address the following questions:
A) What assessment tools would you use?
B) What approach would you use?
C) What would be the focus of your treatment?
D) What would be your short – and long – term treatment goals?
E) Describe your intervention(s) and how they apply to your specialization.
F) How do you approach diversity and inclusiveness in your work?
*Each therapist was given 10 minutes; these are brief notes. The panel was filmed and is intended to be uploaded to the Creative Arts in Counselling website.
Darci Adam
- Use of expressive arts, multi-modalities
- Likes to incorporate Nicole Bell’s medicine wheel
- Address goals for holistic health. Short-term would be a physical expression as a release. Long-term would be self-regulation skills
- Systematic interventions that includes a systems meeting
- School interventions, such as creating a friendship group
- Work to understand Ian’s worldview, relationships and anger
- Use of drumming, puppets, clay, mapping, etc.
- Positive corrective attachment experiences (example: reading and snacks)
- Create context for safety, playfulness and communication of feelings (example: play outside, fairy tales, sword play, etc.)
- Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Lee-Ann Adams
- Start with attachment interviews
- Explore musical domain and musical experiences and interests
- Family-centred perspective. Partner with Mom
- Pattern-repetitive sensory input to help regulate your brain organization and thoughts
- Aggression can be performed through musical expression, such as drumming!
- Use of piano improvisation
- Therapeutic music lessons to work on self-regulation, mindfulness, emotions and social skills
"All creative art therapies are non-threatening and fun!"
Tanis Dick
- Understand family historical trauma and parenting capacity to help determine the resources and strengths
- Collect auto-biographical data through interviews and art exercises
- Focus on experiences of joy with children
- Therapy with kids cannot be in isolation away from the parent(s) or caregiver(s)
- Ask whether Ian can tolerate being with an art “helper”
- Create a map to understand how Ian sees himself and his world
- Process-centred art making that is attachment-oriented
- Art brings out discovery and sensory skills, and is calming and helps with regulation
- Importance of developing a relationship with the materials – they are dependable, always there, non-judgmental, safe, etc.
"Philosophy: that creative processes are healing!"
Karissa Marten
- Has developed movement assessment coding sheets to help understand body alignment and shapes
- Tailored interventions through the use of the assessment coding sheets between Ian and his parents
- Reactive attachment disorder
- Use his body to find moments of calm
- Incorporate as many elements of choice as possible (music selection, movement preferences)
- The simplest, but often most powerful, intervention is breath work
- Explore emotions (example: create an angry dance)
- Use of mirroring and dance dialogue
"Universality of movement – it is a language and connects us!"
Csilla Przibislawsky
- Attachment and trauma assessment
- Look into medical history and identify unmeet needs
- Empathy between family members
- Unstructured play sessions with parents
- Building delight into relations
- Use of drama games that involve closely watching and listening to one another (example: monologues and “telephone” game)
- Importance of humour!
- Developing social skills and empathy with peers (example: drama school group)
- Role engagement and maintenance - role-play, playback theatre techniques, expressions of emotions
Audience question: What are your go-to recommendations?
Darci Adam
Using Expressive Arts to Work with Minds, Bodies and Emotions by Helen Wilson and Mark Pearson
Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination by Shaun McNiff
Lee-Ann Adams
Raising Parents: Attachment, Parenting and Child Safety by Patricia Crittenden
Tanis Dick
Expressive Arts Therapy for Traumatized Children and Adolescents: A Four-Phase Model by Carmen Richardson
Karissa Marten
Disarming the Playground: Violence Prevention Through Movement and Pro-Social Skills by Rena Kornblum
American Dance Therapy Association website
Csilla Przibislawsky
Trauma Informed Drama Therapy: Transforming Clinics, Classrooms and Communities by Nisha Sajnani and David Read Johnson
North American Drama Therapy Association website
Note: other therapy specializations include play therapy, use of poetry, clowning … anything that is fun and creative! Art is healing!
Email us if you have any questions or recommendations for resources that we can share! Other websites to visit include the Canadian Art Therapy Association and International Expressive Arts Therapy Association.
Jan Henderson is one of Canada’s leading clown and mask teachers with over forty years experience as a performer, teacher and director. We are delighted to have her joining WHEAT's faculty as one of our clowning specialists for the new Therapeutic Clowning program launching summer 2019!
In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found the clown to be the best, all encompassing metaphor for the human condition - an uncompromising mirror to look into for glimpses of the truth. We look at the clown and see ourselves - our hopes, dreams, fears, and virtues, our flaws and our process. Clowns show us how, as a species, we get into trouble - without ever meaning to - and how we stumble onto sublime solutions to our problems. The Fool has eyes to see, and heart to recognize.
Clowning isn't something we need to learn so much as something we become aware of in ourselves. Any time that we are curious, playful, or creative, we are in clown mode. When we are in a state of wonder or awe, surprise or amazement, we are in clown. Whenever we have hunches, act on impulse, or digress - we are in clown. Whenever we have strong emotions, we are in clown. The clown lives in the place of laughing and crying at the same time.
The art of clowning involves much more than the slapstick and oversized shoes of the traditional circus clown. The character of The Fool is an essential ingredient of human society - a universal archetype found in some form in all cultures and in all times. The Clown is the " puer aeternae", the eternal child in all of us - the innocent who sees things as they really are and not as convention decrees, who can be counted on to tell us, in the loudest possible voice, that the emperor's not wearing any clothes. It is the part of us that has never grown up, that lives in the heart and in the moment, with no past to regret and no future to dread - the part that only wants to play, completely free of responsibility - and yet is willing and able to save the world if necessary.
The clown takes everything literally and personally, questioning everything under the sun except itself, blithely flaunting the egg on its face and the heart on its sleeve. With the best of intentions and no thought of failure, it leaps naively into danger – getting knocked down over and over - but never failing to get up and try again. It is an embodiment of hope in the face of hopelessness, and possibility in the face of the impossible. It blissfully ignores the obvious and somehow convinces us of the wisdom of folly, and if, as I suspect, we are here to bear witness to the universe, the clown aspect of ourselves provides the best colour commentary.
Clowning is about the freedom that comes from a state of total, unconditional acceptance of our most authentic selves, warts and all. It offers us respite from our self doubts and fears and opens the door to joy. And the best part is, we are all already our clowns. They are here inside us, waiting for us to recognize them so that they can come out and play.
© Jan Henderson, Fool Moon Productions
What an inspiring evening Friday, April 20th! Thank you to all those in attendance for supporting the documentary and WHEAT's Scholarship Fund. Little Stones is an amazing documentary exploring art for social change and we are looking forward to planning a second screening in Winnipeg. Sign up for our newsletter HERE so you don't miss the annoucement!
Thank you Sophia Kruz (Driftseed) for joining us via Skype to discuss your motivation behind Little Stones and Lunda Wanda Galdames for sharing your work with The Dream Room Project - a local not-for-profit that paints rooms in various organizations and community centres into "magical spaces of healing" for youth facing emotional, mental, physical or economic challenges.
If you would like to learn more about Little Stones, and how you can take action through art, check out the "Take Action" page or email WHEAT Institute at info@wheatinstitute.com
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April 20, 2018 at 7 pm
Eckhardt Gramatte Hall (3rd floor of Centennial Hall), University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue
Advanced tickets available for $15 at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/little-stones-documentary-screening-and-artist-panel-tickets-43561588885 or $20 at the door
The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute will host a community screening of the award-winning documentary film LITTLE STONES. Little Stones follows Brazilian graffiti artist Panmela Castro, Senegalese rap-singer Sister Fa, Indian dance therapist Sohini Chakraborty, and fashion designer Anna Taylor as they use their art to combat violence against women and to empower women and girls globally.
Directed and produced by EMMY® Award-winning filmmaker Sophia Kruz, Little Stones was filmed in Senegal, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, India and USA. The film won Best Foreign Documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence from the Impact Docs Awards. A Q&A with the filmmaker, and local artists Jaime Black and Luna Wanda Galdames, will follow the screening. WHEAT is thrilled to host this community screening of Little Stones. As Director of WHEAT, Darci Adam, explains:
“WHEAT Institute is committed to the empowerment of women through therapeutic art-making. We recognize the power, necessity and beauty of art in social change. All income from this event go towards WHEAT scholarships including the Bea Anderson Memorial Scholarship for Artists and the Harry Bone Scholarship for Indigenous Students.”
Film Synopsis - From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, Little Stones profiles four women, each of whom are contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women’s movement through their art. The film and accompanying education initiative have been designed to raise awareness about global women’s rights issues, and to celebrate creative, entrepreneurial, and arts-therapy based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing women globally.
About the title “Little Stones” - The film’s title comes from suffragist and women’s rights activist Alice Paul’s 1974 quote, “I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone.” According to director Sophia Kruz:
“The sentiment, that we all have a role to play in the global fight for equal rights, to me perfectly encapsulated the work of each artist featured in the documentary, and my own goals for LITTLE STONES. I hope the documentary encourages creative dialogue and expression around issues of global gender based violence, and that through Driftseed, the 501c3 non-profit organization which Singh and I founded during production, we will continue to grow the mosaic of the women’s movement, stone by stone.”
About the women featured in Little Stones
1) Panmela Castro - www.panmelacastro.com
Brazilian graffiti artist Panmela Castro was named the best Artist of the Decade in 2010 at the Hutuz Awards. She has risen to the top of the male-dominated graffiti world in Brazil by charting her own path, and using street-art to raise awareness about an issue that hits very close to home: domestic violence.
2) Sohini Chakraborty - www.kolkatasanved.org
Sohini Chakraborty was a dancer and sociologist in 1996 when she began volunteering at a shelter for sex trafficking survivors in India. She knew instinctively that dance could help girls reclaim their bodies after the trauma of trafficking, and over the past 2 decades, Chakraborty has touched the lives of over 65,000 survivors throughout South-East Asia, training over 50 survivors to become professional dance movement therapists.
3) Sister Fa - www.sisterfa.com
Senegalese singer and activist Sister Fa is a survivor of childhood female genital mutilation. She’s now based in Berlin, but is a controversial figure throughout West-Africa, where she regularly tours, using her fame to spark a dialogue around genital mutilation, which is still too taboo to discuss in many communities.
4) Anna Taylor - www.judithandjames.com
American fashion designer Anna Taylor first moved to Kenya to work in Nairobi’s slums when she was in high school. There, she met an unemployed seamstress named Judith, whom she hired to sew her clothing designs. In 2011, Taylor founded Judith & James to train and employ impoverished Kenyan women to produce high fashion clothing. In 2013, at the age of 22, Taylor debuted her collection at New York Fashion Week.
About Director Sophia Kruz - Sophia Kruz is an EMMY® award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her work has screened at film festivals and museums globally, and broadcast nationally on PBS. In February, Kruz gave a TEDx talk about the film Little Stones and using art and culture to create social change. Her talk can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-96lxOpEyg
About Jaime Black – Jaime is an emerging, Metis multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg. She has taught in Opaskwayak Cree Nation in the Pas, Manitoba, has worked developing art curriculum for the Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, and has long been involved in the Aboriginal writers and artists communities in Winnipeg. She is currently a mentee with Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA). In her artwork, she attempts to create a dialogue around social and political events and issues, through provocation or creating space for reflection. She is particularly interested in feminism and Aboriginal social justice, and the possibilities for articulating linkages between and around these movements. Jaime is the artists behind the REDress Project, which focuses around the issue of missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=27
About Luna Wanda Galdames - Luna is an interdisciplinary indigenous artist from Chile now living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A primary focus of her work continues to be the human body and identity. As an immigrant to Canada she has been a participant and observer to how identity is attached to place, and her interest is in the results achieved by removing people/objects from specific spaces. She also founded the dream room project (La sala de los sueños Inc.) a Winnipeg-based, not-for-profit charitable organization helping children and youth heal from traumatic experiences through art by transforming bedrooms in homes, group homes, treatment centers, shelters and community-based healing centers into hope-filled spaces. http://www.thedreamroomproject.ca/
Watch the Little Stones trailer: https://vimeo.com/187500137
Purchase Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/little-stones-documentary-screening-and-artist-panel-tickets-43561588885or $20 at the door.
As published on April 4, 2018 on WHEAT's LinkedIn (HERE)
The path to becoming a Registered Canadian Art Therapist (RCAT) is varied in that individuals from a variety of different backgrounds may be able to pursue Art Therapy as a career.
Many have been pleased to discover Art Therapy as a second career after first pursuing a career in teaching, social work, or fine arts. Others pursue Art Therapy as a career from the start of their educational planning. The field of Art Therapy values backgrounds that are as diverse as the clients we serve.
Regardless of your age or educational background, there are some key requirements to becoming an RCAT in Canada.
Do you have an undergraduate degree in one of these fields?
Psychology / Fine Arts / Social Work / Counselling
If so, you may be eligible to pursue further training in Art Therapy.
If you have an undergraduate degree in a different, but related, field, we can conduct a prior learning assessment to determine your course equivalencies.
Prerequisite courses for the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute’s Art Therapy Diploma include: Developmental Psychology (3 credits) and Abnormal Psychology or Psychopathology (3 credits). This work may also be completed during the course of study.
You can find the full list of art therapy training programs that meet the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA) standards on their website.
If you’re planning to pursue education while maintaining your current employment, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma may be right for you. With a summer intensive in Winnipeg and online education from September to April, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma has been specifically designed to fit the schedules of teachers (and others working in the education system), and other presently employed individuals.
Congrats, you’ve started your professional training in Art Therapy! Savour the words of wisdom from the Art Therapists and creative professionals who came before you, and relish in the opportunity to bring your skills, compassion and creativity together all in one place. For the students who find us, this creative and therapeutic process is a sweet elixir, and one that has also led most students to immediate opportunities in a field they are passionate about.
To register with Canada’s Art Therapy regulating body, or CATA, you are required to have completed the following:
*Graduation from an accredited Art Therapy training program in Canada
*Registration as a professional member of CATA for six months
*1000 hours of additional art therapy client contact time beyond your training program combined with 50 hours of post-graduate supervision with a registered Art Therapist.
The CATA website provides answers to frequently asked questions on registering.
The opportunities are limitless! Previous students of WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma have ventured into professional opportunities at established counselling practices, local health care facilities, schools, and many have began their own personal Art Therapy Practice.
In fact, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma provides coursework in entrepreneurship and managing your own professional practice so that you may have the tools to succeed as a professional Art Therapist.
If you’ve read up to this point and you’ve been waiting for a sign to switch careers, let this be that sign! Art Therapy is an emerging field and offers numerous opportunities for creative career paths.
Contact WHEAT today info@wheatinstitute.com or 204-293-3869 to learn if Art Therapy is right for you.
"Movement is a basic form of communication that provides us with opportunities for socialization, the development of community and the experience of expressing our aliveness and our innermost thoughts and feelings." - Nana Koch
In this American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) talk, Nana Koch, board certified dance/movement therapist, licensed creative arts therapist and award-winning educator, introduces the viewer to the profession of dance/movement therapy, its history, and describes an approach to group work.
Nana Koch, Ed.D, BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC, LPC, CMA is a board certified dance movement therapist, licensed creative arts therapist and educator. Nana studied with pioneering dance therapist Liljan Espenak in one of the earliest courses she offered at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital/Mental Retardation Clinic. Since Espenak’s passing, Nana has been the sole practitioner teaching her system of psychomotor therapy. She has worked with a range of clinical populations including children and adolescents with developmental delays and adolescents and adults with affective disorders, psychosis and/or addictions. Additionally, Nana has taught dance/movement training courses in New York, Costa Rica, India and China.
“Dance touches everybody, regardless of your position of power, your age or your race,” says 40-year-old Congolese choreographer Fabrice Don de Dieu Bwabulamutima.
Bwabulamutima travels with his dance, drama, & music program ‘Refugees on the Move’ to refugee camps across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He teaches people who have experienced war and violence how to overcome trauma, rebuild their self-confidence and learn to live with other people again. This is healing power of dance! To learn more about this amazing work check out the article HERE and watch the video.
We are so excited to offer the upcoming classes:
Our 2-day workshop on Movement with Tanja Woloshen April 14-15, 2018
3-day summer immersive on Movement in Expressive Arts Therapy August 15-17, 2018
Further information on these classes will be posted online soon! In the meantime, if you are interested in either of these please contact info@wheatinstitute.com to be put on our list.
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Little Stones is an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Sophia Kruz which follows four women who are using art - fashion, graffiti, hip-hop and dance - to empower women and girls around the world. We hope you will join us for the screening and live Skype Q & A with Sophia!
When: Friday, April 20th at 7 pm
Where: Eckhardt Gramatte Hall, University of Winnipeg
Tickets are $15 and available online at http://bit.ly/2COqyvr Proceeds will support our scholarship fund for art therapy students through the Winnipeg Foundation. If you would like to contribute directly to this fund, please visit http://wheatinstitute.com/gifts
From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, Little Stones profiles four women, each of whom are contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women’s movement through their art. The film and accompanying education initiative have been designed to raise awareness about global women’s rights issues, and to celebrate creative, entrepreneurial, and arts-therapy based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing women globally.
Directed and produced by EMMY® Award-winning filmmaker Sophia Kruz, Little Stones was filmed in Senegal, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, India and USA. The film won Best Foreign Documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence from the Impact Docs Awards.
Watch the official trailer HERE!
We are so excited to announce that we will be offering a specialization in Therapeutic Clowning at WHEAT Institute! It will be the first of its kind in central Canada. Details will be posted soon, but we are looking at a late August start date. David Langdon has previously taught with WHEAT and will not only be teaching our Clowning in Expressive Arts Therapy course this summer (August 11-13, 2018) but will also be leading our clowning specialization. We are so honored to have him on board developing this special program and would like to share a little more about him and the history of therapeutic clowning in Canada!
David Langdon, BA (Hons) has been the Therapeutic Clown/ Child Life Specialist at Winnipeg Children’s Hospital since 1989. He uses two different clown persona and styles in his therapeutic clown work. One is the non-speaking mime clown Hubert inspired by Karen Ridd’s work; the other is Onri a gregarious inventor/researcher inspired by the clown doctor model. He is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns/ L’Association Canadienne des Clowns Thérapeutiques. His work has been featured in various media, notably the 2006 documentary film “I Clown For You-hoo! /Je clowne pour toa!.” In March 2017, David represented Therapeutic Clowns Canada at the Healthcare Clowning International Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. He has presented and led workshops at numerous Canadian therapeutic clowning conferences and events. Prior to working at Children’s Hospital, David taught acting and clowning. He is also active as a writer, and a musician.
Watch an excerpt from this documentary of the Winnipeg Therapeutic Clown Program, courtesy of Red Letter Films HERE
Clowns today are laughter artists whose tools range from cream pie to poetic delirium. But many also lead a double life of care and tenderness … With and without their red nose, they tell us about their work and life. They bring us into a world where lightness, darkness, laughter, and tears are often mixed together, and where life, courage and hope overcome all.
David is considered an elder in the Canadian therapeutic clown community. He started in 1989, following Karen Ridd the “mother of therapeutic clowning” who started the profession here in Winnipeg in 1986. There were no other programs in Canada at the time. David networked with the other Canadian therapeutic clowns in the 90’s as programs emerged in Toronto and Vancouver. In 2005 David became the chairman of the steering committee of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns of which he was a founding member and served as such for two terms.
You can learn more about the history of therapeutic clowning in Canada at https://www.therapeuticclowns.ca/our-history
In 2006 David received the Robo Award for excellence in therapeutic clowning by the Ontario Hospital Association. He has created a Facebook page dedicated to therapeutic clowning and the art of clown called Banana Research and Development Ink.
If you would like to learn more about David and the use of clowning, you can check out some of David’s writing at the following links:
(1) Langdon, David. "Therapeutic Clowning: Play and Levity in a Pediatric Setting",The Muse, Issue 5, pages 28-29. April 2017.
(2) Hospital Clown Newsletter, Vol. 9 No. 4, pages 12-17. May 2005.
(3) Hooson, Paul and David Langdon. Therapeutic Clowning: The Canadian Experience, Healthcare Clowning International Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal. 2006.
After a bit of a hiatus we are happy to be back updating our blog. 2017 was a whirlwind of activity! We started our two new diploma cohorts in Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy during the summer.
At the beginning of October, we co-hosted the International Expressive Arts Therapy (IEATA) Conference on Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts in Winnipeg. It was such a rewarding experience to have hundreds of participants from across the country and abroad join us! We are looking for your 2017 IEATA Conference stories and photos! If you had an enlightening conference experience and want to share, please send us a message via Facebook with your story and/or photos. Note that we will be compiling testimonials for sharing through our networks. Miigwetch!
In December we launched our Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program. Our first offering is the 5-weekend series on Personal and Professional Practice which started the weekend of December 9th and continues into April 2018. We have five fantastic specialists in their fields excited to share their knowledge with our students.
Our professional development courses and programs are valuable to anyone wishing to integrate the arts into their personal or professional practice, including school counselors, therapists, healers, coaches, educators, resource teachers, elders, clergy, and artists.
Winter/Spring 2018 Expressive Arts Therapy weekend workshops: Join us in one of the upcoming weekend workshops. Drop-in registration is still open for any individual weekend! Space is limited, so please contact info@wheatinstitute.com if you have any questions or are interested in registering. Meet all our instructors HERE on our faculty page.
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2018 - 2020 Art, Expressive Arts, and Drama Therapy Diploma programs: Registration for our 2018 diplomas is open! Deadline to apply for one of our diploma programs is April 30th. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with renowned instructors, including Kate Donohue and Christine Lummis, while exploring the therapeutic use of the arts! You will take part in summer intensives, online coursework, practicum experience, and ongoing supervision. Further registration information can be found at http://wheatinstitute.com/registration
Summer 2018 Professional Development courses: Several of our summer elective courses will also be open for drop-in registrations. This is the perfect chance to learn from renowned experts in the field! Courses include: Principles of Drama Therapy with Armand Volkas August 2018; Poetry in Expressive Arts Therapy with Di Brandt (Winnipeg's 1st Poet Laureate) August 8-10, 2018;Clowning in Expressive Arts Therapy with David Langdon August 11-13, 2018; Movement in Expressive Arts Therapy - Instructor TBD August 15-17, 2018; and Indigenous Ways of Knowing Through the Arts August 19 - 22, 2018 with Darci Adam & Indigenous WHEAT Facilitators.
Fall 2018 Certificate programs: We will be making announcements soon about the 200-hour Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate Program, in addition to a new specialization with David Langdon in Therapeutic Clowning! The first of its kind in central Canada!
Winnipeg Foundation Scholarship: WHEAT Institute, in partnership with The Winnipeg Foundation, offers the opportunity for supporters to make tax-deductible contributions to the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Scholarship Fund. All gifts are greatly appreciated and contribute to the development of excellence in the therapeutic use of the arts. This scholarship helps to provide meaningful one-of-a kind learning opportunities to prospective students.
If you are not already subscribed to our newsletter, and would like to keep up to date on what is being offered at WHEAT and other community art events, please sign up HERE You can also follow us online on Facebook and Twitter.
And, lastly, we are excited to share new insights from WHEAT alumni, students, faculty, and professionals on the blog! Email wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing.
* This post was originally published March 15, 2017 for the IEATA - Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts Therapy conference in Winnipeg October 4-8, 2017
Bozhoo! Tanisi! We are thrilled to welcome Aandeg Muldrew as our Indigenous language teacher.
Join us in Call to Action #14 which acknowledges “Aboriginal languages are fundamental and a valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them.”
We invite you to learn basic conversational Anishnaabemowin (Ojibway) and Nehiyawewin (Cree – in this case Swampy Cree). Listen, practice, like and share! Miigwetch! Kinanaskomitin!
Facebook: IEATA Conference 2017 Twitter: @IEATAcon2017
Are you ready for more? Check out the complete series on YouTube:
Ojibwe and Cree 2: What’s your name, my name is…
Ojibwe and Cree 3: Where are you from, I’m from…
Ojibwe and Cree 5: spirit name
Ojibwe and Cree 6: how are you/feeling?
Ojibwe and Cree 8 I’m well part 2
Ojibwe and Cree 10 I’m sick p2
Ojibwe and Cree 12: I’m cold in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 14: Thank you in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 15: Thank you in Cree pt 2
Ojibwe and Cree: 16 I’m hot in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 17: Are you hot in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 18: a little, in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 19: I’m hot in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 20: a little in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 21: I thank you in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 22: I am thankful for it
Ojibwe and Cree 24: I arrived yesterday
Ojibwe and Cree 25: When are/did you arrive?
Ojibwe and Cree 26: I will arrive tomorrow
Ojibwe and Cree 27: I’m from __
Ojibwe and Cree 28: Where are you from
Ojibwe and Cree 29: Where are you going
Ojibwe and Cree 30: Do you see him/her
Ojibwe and Cree 31: Do you like it?
Ojibwe and Cree 32: It’s nice to see you
Ojibwe and Cree 33: I’ll see you again
Ojibwe and Cree 35: at a later time
Ojibwe and Cree 37: conference
Ojibwe and Cree 38: do you know him/her?
Ojibwe and Cree 39: I know him/her or I don’t know him/her
Ojibwe and Cree 40: I know who you’re talking about
Ojibwe and Cree 41: What are you doing?
Ojibwe and Cree 42: What is s/he doing?
Ojibwe and Cree 43: I’m singing
Ojibwe and Cree 44: I’m dancing
Ojibwe and Cree 45: I’m drumming
Ojibwe and Cree 46: I’m eating
Ojibwe and Cree 48: I say. I said
Ojibwe and Cree 49: What is s/he saying?
Students Speak Out is a series on WHEAT’s blog documenting students’ experiences while studying at WHEAT. If you are a current or past student and would like to contribute to the blog, please email wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com
* This post was originally published on July 14, 2016
Which class/course did you take at WHEAT Institute?
I participated in the first three classes of the art therapy diploma program culminating in an intensive 10 day experience including : Art therapy Counseling skills and techniques, Art therapy Assessment and Field Research, and Working with Trauma.
Who was the instructor for your class/course?
What was one major take away from the class/course?
As a professional visual artist I took away an opening of the connection between movement, the body, and expression. The introduction of focusing oriented therapy and exploration of Somatic art therapy was huge in my understanding of how therapy can relate to art and become a healing modality.
What are some ways you could share this learning with your friends, family, or professional practice?
In practice I would definitely include guided meditation and language to include felt sensations and color connections to explore through art.
I have documented a few of the pieces and small reflections of personal process through the intensive on my Facebook page and Instagram account.
Lori Boyko was working as a high school teacher when she first became interested in the benefits of Art Therapy. As a classroom teacher, she took an active role in counseling the youth she taught and wanted to explore new ways to help them deal with emotions.
Lori’s learning path took her to the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute to train and all the way to Athabasca to obtain a Master’s of Counselling with Art Therapy Specialization. This trajectory led her not only to a career in Art Therapy but also allowed her to be self-employed, providing art therapy and other therapeutic services to clients from her private practice – Valley Art Therapy and Associates – located in Birtle, Manitoba.
Lori finds that Art Therapy is particularly effective in trauma work as creative expressive allows individuals to make sense of the sensory aspects of trauma that are hard to reach verbally. “Art therapy allows for unconscious material to surface,” she says, “so that we can make sense of it and it is often less threatening and scary for clients work on intense issues.” She also points out that, with Art Therapy, clients are in charge of the process – selecting the materials they wish to use and charting a creative course – and that this sense of control can be very empowering.
Wanting to help as many people as possible with Art Therapy, Lori opened another location in Minnedosa in 2016, with student expressive arts therapist Kim Burgess as the lead therapist. This summer, Kim will be taking over that office under the name of Satori Counselling.
Because her career is always evolving in new and exciting ways, Lori will be establishing a new private Art Therapy practice in Gimli, Manitoba in fall of 2017. Her current practice – Valley Art Therapy – has been sold to Dana Corr, a therapist who has worked with her part time since 2008 and who is furthering her studies in Art Therapy at WHEAT Institute.
Lori is extremely proud to have been instrumental in the development of these three therapy practices and is excited that Art Therapy is becoming a more mainstream and available treatment option across Manitoba.
We are excited to welcome:
Tzafi Weinberg to teach the Art Therapy Studio class in February. Tzafi studied art therapy at the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, BC, and currently is a Doctorate student at Mount Mary University, Milwaukee. She is knowledgeable in the area of attachment and trauma, specifically with Indigenous children and adolescents. She believes that Art therapy can contribute to the reconciliation process with Indigenous people.
The Expressive Arts Therapy Studio class (July 22-25) will have an exciting addition! Born on Jeju Island in South Korea, Dohee Lee studied Korean dance, music, percussion and vocals at the master level. Since her arrival in the US she has been a vital contributor to both the traditional and contemporary arts landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Dohee’s work focuses on integration of traditional forms and contemporary arts through music, movement, images, costumes and installation.
The video above demonstrates some of Dohee's social oriented work in South Korea.
Maria Riccardi will be teaching the first year Art Therapy classes summer 2019. Maria is a registered art therapist, career counselor, licensed clinical psychotherapist and the former president of the Associationdes art-thérapeutes du Québec. She is an adjunct professor of art therapy at Concordia University and a part-time professor at l’Université du Québec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. She collaborates with local non-profit organizations and mental health institutions, developing community-based art studio programs for adolescents and adults who are marginalized due to mental and physical health issues, immigration issues, and poverty. She has expertise with veterans living with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder within the context of trauma intervention as well as in the evaluation of art processes and products during treatment. She has founded a clinic in Montreal based on the Expressive Therapies Continuum, providing educational and emotional support to children and families.
Good things are on the horizon for WHEAT and our students!
Registration is open for our 2019 Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma programs starting this summer. Check out our website for more details and email info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in applying to any of our programs or our drop in professional development classes.
We want to take a moment to say thank you and acknowledge the immense contribution of Art Therapy instructor Karen Wallace.
Karen is an art therapist, artist, art instructor, educator and trainer. Karen joined the WHEAT faculty in 2016 with the inaugural Art Therapy Diploma cohort. She since has been integral to our Art Therapy Diploma program, teaching the first year Art Therapy classes in the summer and Focus Centred Art Therapy in the fall - one of our most popular classes!
Karen was the first instructor our students met and was highly regarded as a Master teacher. We received glowing feedback from our students that acknowledged Karen's expertise and mentorship as they began their art therapy training. Karen celebrated the first graduating class of art therapists in Manitoba on November 11, 2018 in WHEAT’s first graduation ceremony.
"The Art Therapy Diploma summer intensive, instructed by Karen Wallace, was hard core, enlightening and I cannot wait to dive further into Art Therapy over the next few years. It's really hard to put into words just how amazing it was! I would definitely suggest this program to anyone interested in Art Therapy." - Art Therapy Diploma student
“Rich, in-depth learning opportunity with a master teacher in Focusing. Thank you Karen!” - Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma student
In her private practice Karen works with adults and children. She also teaches in Educational Counselling Psychology, Social Work, and Early Childhood Education at the University of Regina, and is looking forward to the release of her new book Trauma Informed Teaching Through Play, Art and Narrative coming out in 2019.
Thank you Karen for your dedication and support in training Manitoba's first class(es) of Art Therapists!
With Gratitude,
WHEAT Institute
Jan Henderson is one of Canada’s leading clown and mask teachers with over forty years experience as a performer, teacher and director. We are delighted to have her joining WHEAT's faculty as one of our clowning specialists for the new Therapeutic Clowning program launching summer 2019!
In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found the clown to be the best, all encompassing metaphor for the human condition - an uncompromising mirror to look into for glimpses of the truth. We look at the clown and see ourselves - our hopes, dreams, fears, and virtues, our flaws and our process. Clowns show us how, as a species, we get into trouble - without ever meaning to - and how we stumble onto sublime solutions to our problems. The Fool has eyes to see, and heart to recognize.
Clowning isn't something we need to learn so much as something we become aware of in ourselves. Any time that we are curious, playful, or creative, we are in clown mode. When we are in a state of wonder or awe, surprise or amazement, we are in clown. Whenever we have hunches, act on impulse, or digress - we are in clown. Whenever we have strong emotions, we are in clown. The clown lives in the place of laughing and crying at the same time.
The art of clowning involves much more than the slapstick and oversized shoes of the traditional circus clown. The character of The Fool is an essential ingredient of human society - a universal archetype found in some form in all cultures and in all times. The Clown is the " puer aeternae", the eternal child in all of us - the innocent who sees things as they really are and not as convention decrees, who can be counted on to tell us, in the loudest possible voice, that the emperor's not wearing any clothes. It is the part of us that has never grown up, that lives in the heart and in the moment, with no past to regret and no future to dread - the part that only wants to play, completely free of responsibility - and yet is willing and able to save the world if necessary.
The clown takes everything literally and personally, questioning everything under the sun except itself, blithely flaunting the egg on its face and the heart on its sleeve. With the best of intentions and no thought of failure, it leaps naively into danger – getting knocked down over and over - but never failing to get up and try again. It is an embodiment of hope in the face of hopelessness, and possibility in the face of the impossible. It blissfully ignores the obvious and somehow convinces us of the wisdom of folly, and if, as I suspect, we are here to bear witness to the universe, the clown aspect of ourselves provides the best colour commentary.
Clowning is about the freedom that comes from a state of total, unconditional acceptance of our most authentic selves, warts and all. It offers us respite from our self doubts and fears and opens the door to joy. And the best part is, we are all already our clowns. They are here inside us, waiting for us to recognize them so that they can come out and play.
© Jan Henderson, Fool Moon Productions
We are so excited to announce that we will be offering a specialization in Therapeutic Clowning at WHEAT Institute! It will be the first of its kind in central Canada. Details will be posted soon, but we are looking at a late August start date. David Langdon has previously taught with WHEAT and will not only be teaching our Clowning in Expressive Arts Therapy course this summer (August 11-13, 2018) but will also be leading our clowning specialization. We are so honored to have him on board developing this special program and would like to share a little more about him and the history of therapeutic clowning in Canada!
David Langdon, BA (Hons) has been the Therapeutic Clown/ Child Life Specialist at Winnipeg Children’s Hospital since 1989. He uses two different clown persona and styles in his therapeutic clown work. One is the non-speaking mime clown Hubert inspired by Karen Ridd’s work; the other is Onri a gregarious inventor/researcher inspired by the clown doctor model. He is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns/ L’Association Canadienne des Clowns Thérapeutiques. His work has been featured in various media, notably the 2006 documentary film “I Clown For You-hoo! /Je clowne pour toa!.” In March 2017, David represented Therapeutic Clowns Canada at the Healthcare Clowning International Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. He has presented and led workshops at numerous Canadian therapeutic clowning conferences and events. Prior to working at Children’s Hospital, David taught acting and clowning. He is also active as a writer, and a musician.
Watch an excerpt from this documentary of the Winnipeg Therapeutic Clown Program, courtesy of Red Letter Films HERE
Clowns today are laughter artists whose tools range from cream pie to poetic delirium. But many also lead a double life of care and tenderness … With and without their red nose, they tell us about their work and life. They bring us into a world where lightness, darkness, laughter, and tears are often mixed together, and where life, courage and hope overcome all.
David is considered an elder in the Canadian therapeutic clown community. He started in 1989, following Karen Ridd the “mother of therapeutic clowning” who started the profession here in Winnipeg in 1986. There were no other programs in Canada at the time. David networked with the other Canadian therapeutic clowns in the 90’s as programs emerged in Toronto and Vancouver. In 2005 David became the chairman of the steering committee of the Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns of which he was a founding member and served as such for two terms.
You can learn more about the history of therapeutic clowning in Canada at https://www.therapeuticclowns.ca/our-history
In 2006 David received the Robo Award for excellence in therapeutic clowning by the Ontario Hospital Association. He has created a Facebook page dedicated to therapeutic clowning and the art of clown called Banana Research and Development Ink.
If you would like to learn more about David and the use of clowning, you can check out some of David’s writing at the following links:
(1) Langdon, David. "Therapeutic Clowning: Play and Levity in a Pediatric Setting",The Muse, Issue 5, pages 28-29. April 2017.
(2) Hospital Clown Newsletter, Vol. 9 No. 4, pages 12-17. May 2005.
(3) Hooson, Paul and David Langdon. Therapeutic Clowning: The Canadian Experience, Healthcare Clowning International Meeting, Lisbon, Portugal. 2006.
Lori Boyko was working as a high school teacher when she first became interested in the benefits of Art Therapy. As a classroom teacher, she took an active role in counseling the youth she taught and wanted to explore new ways to help them deal with emotions.
Lori’s learning path took her to the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute to train and all the way to Athabasca to obtain a Master’s of Counselling with Art Therapy Specialization. This trajectory led her not only to a career in Art Therapy but also allowed her to be self-employed, providing art therapy and other therapeutic services to clients from her private practice – Valley Art Therapy and Associates – located in Birtle, Manitoba.
Lori finds that Art Therapy is particularly effective in trauma work as creative expressive allows individuals to make sense of the sensory aspects of trauma that are hard to reach verbally. “Art therapy allows for unconscious material to surface,” she says, “so that we can make sense of it and it is often less threatening and scary for clients work on intense issues.” She also points out that, with Art Therapy, clients are in charge of the process – selecting the materials they wish to use and charting a creative course – and that this sense of control can be very empowering.
Wanting to help as many people as possible with Art Therapy, Lori opened another location in Minnedosa in 2016, with student expressive arts therapist Kim Burgess as the lead therapist. This summer, Kim will be taking over that office under the name of Satori Counselling.
Because her career is always evolving in new and exciting ways, Lori will be establishing a new private Art Therapy practice in Gimli, Manitoba in fall of 2017. Her current practice – Valley Art Therapy – has been sold to Dana Corr, a therapist who has worked with her part time since 2008 and who is furthering her studies in Art Therapy at WHEAT Institute.
Lori is extremely proud to have been instrumental in the development of these three therapy practices and is excited that Art Therapy is becoming a more mainstream and available treatment option across Manitoba.
From August 19-22, 2018, WHEAT Institute Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma program students studied together under the direction of Victoria McIntosh in the course Indigenous Ways of Knowing Through the Arts.
The class offered participants exposure to a local Indigenous world view through Indigenous art and personal art-making. Students explored methodologies, concepts, cultural perspectives, ceremony, and art forms of Indigenous peoples of Manitoba. In addition, students explored how art can assist in the reconciliation process as a tool for healing, self-understanding, and dialogue.
The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute offers diploma and certificate programs that provide students with an experiential and theoretical foundation in the therapeutic use of art, drama, movement and storytelling. As part of WHEAT's Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy Diploma Programs our students complete practicum hours at different sites across Winnipeg, Manitoba and even Canada!
The Art Therapy 2-year diploma provides an alternative, cooperative, and creative approach for addressing emotional and psychological difficulties through the therapeutic use of the arts. Graduates of this program will have the training required to register as professional members of the Canadian Art Therapy Association.
The Expressive Arts Therapy 2-year diploma provides an alternative, cooperative and creative approach for amplifying wellness and addressing emotional and psychological difficulties through the therapeutic use of the arts. This may include art, drama, dance, music and writing. Graduates of this program will have the training necessary to begin the registration process as professional members of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association as either Registered Expressive Arts Therapists (REAT) or Registered Expressive Arts Consultants (REACE).
Our students will complete practicum hours at different sites to fulfill their program requirements. The practicum placement is an opportunity for students to apply and integrate knowledge acquired during coursework. Students meet with clients in a local community agency or organization to enhance and develop their techniques and skills to use the arts therapeutically. Students carry out client contact hours, which consist of one-on-one sessions or group sessions in which expressive arts, drama, or art therapy techniques and modalities are used.
Students will:
Some of the places student’s complete practicum hours at include schools, hospitals, nursing homes, social services agencies, recourse centres, women's shelters, private practices and community organizations / groups. Students often work with some of the most vulnerable populations which may include children and youth, special needs groups, hospital patients, survivors, seniors and refugees.
CancerCare Manitoba is one example of the use of art therapy for those undergoing cancer treatments. There have been studies that confirm the benefits of art therapy in helping chronic patients cope with hospitalization and provide support through treatments. You can read an article HERE and a case study from Concordia University on the use of art therapy with children in hospitals HERE. One of our Expressive Arts Therapy students has also been involved in helping start a new art therapy program at A Port in the Storm - a safe haven for rural and northern adults living in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario who must travel to and remain in Winnipeg to receive medical care. We have received nothing but positive feedback - guests love this addition to the available activities!
One of our Art Therapy students has developed a new program offered at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba. This program was recently featured on CTV News. Learn more about inspiring people with dementia through art! The benefits of creative arts for people experiencing dementia and alzheimer's has been well documented. You can read more about using art and expressive arts therapy with seniors HERE. We have also had an Art Therapy student introduce art therapy into the Selkirk & District Seniors Resource Council Inc. programming for 65+ seniors living in the Selkirk area.
Several of our students work with agencies that offer support for those recovering from addictions, violence and trauma. Addictions Foundation of Manitoba provides residential and community-based addictions services, including individual and group counselling, for those experiencing problems with alcohol, drugs, or gambling. Agape House – Eastman Crisis Centre, Inc. offers support for women in crisis. Our students take courses in addressing addictions, working with trauma, and working with seniors, children and groups. Art therapy has proven to be beneficial in trauma recovery, and we invite you to read more about trauma-informed expressive arts therapy HERE.
As a mental health profession art therapy is employed in many clinical and non-clinical settings. Using their evaluative and psychotherapy skills, art therapists choose materials and interventions appropriate to their clients' needs and design sessions to achieve therapeutic goals and objectives. They use the creative process to help their clients cope with stress or illness; work through traumatic experiences; increase cognitive, memory and neurosensory abilities; improve relationships; and achieve greater self-fulfillment. The purpose is ultimately one of healing.
Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy practicum hours can be completed anywhere there is a need! If you, or your organization / program, are interested in hosting a practicum student from WHEAT Institute please contact wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com to learn more.
A Port in the Storm is in need of some additional supplies for the new art therapy program. Below is a list. Please email wheatinstitute@gmail.com if you would like to donate.
Plastic containers (small margarine or soup size, about 1L)
Tubes from gift wrap and paper towels
Buttons
Beads
Yarn
Coloured tissue paper
White paper – tabloid size (11 X 17)
Poster Paper
Bristol Board
Small canvas (3X5, 5X7, 8X11)
Musical instruments (guitar, percussion)
Sewing machine
Rags for Cleaning
Students Speak Out is a series on WHEAT’s blog documenting students’ experiences while studying at WHEAT. If you are a current or past student and would like to contribute to the blog, please email wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com
* This post was originally published on July 14, 2016
Which class/course did you take at WHEAT Institute?
I participated in the first three classes of the art therapy diploma program culminating in an intensive 10 day experience including : Art therapy Counseling skills and techniques, Art therapy Assessment and Field Research, and Working with Trauma.
Who was the instructor for your class/course?
What was one major take away from the class/course?
As a professional visual artist I took away an opening of the connection between movement, the body, and expression. The introduction of focusing oriented therapy and exploration of Somatic art therapy was huge in my understanding of how therapy can relate to art and become a healing modality.
What are some ways you could share this learning with your friends, family, or professional practice?
In practice I would definitely include guided meditation and language to include felt sensations and color connections to explore through art.
I have documented a few of the pieces and small reflections of personal process through the intensive on my Facebook page and Instagram account.
There has been much research exploring the use of the arts with refugees healing from conflict, displacement and trauma. According to the literature, the creative arts therapies (art, music, dance, drama, storytelling and movement) are not only able to connect individuals, but can help promote integration which leads to positive transformation and therapeutic change. Akthar & Lovell (2018) describe how these creative therapies often create a temporary home for refugees in the acculturation process, by serving as a safe and transitional space. This safe space provides the opportunity to heal and gives them a voice.
Much like the recognized health benefits of creative expression for mental health, Dieterich-Hartwell & Koch (2017) identify how art therapy with refugees helps to (1) give them a voice, (2) rebuild trust, (3) share stories and (4) explore their identity and discover their new “self”. Art-making through visual art, music, drama or dance and movement not only represents a safe space in which clients are encouraged to integrate different pieces of their identity through self- and creative- expression, but also helps build the bridge between their homeland and new environment.
Evaluating Art Therapy to Heal the Effects of Trauma Among Refugee Youth: The Burma Art Therapy Program Evaluation concluded that the use of art therapy provided a unique opportunity for refugee youth populations to benefit from a transcultural and positive-framed approach to mental health, and recommended further consideration of the use of creative arts therapies in post-conflict contexts.
Zahra Akthar & Andrew Lovell (2018) Art therapy with refugee children: a qualitative study explored through the lens of art therapists and their experiences, International Journal of Art Therapy, DOI: 10.1080/17454832.2018.1533571
Rebekka Dieterich-Hartwell & Sabine C. Koch (2017) Creative Arts Therapies as Temporary Home for Refugees: Insights from Literature and Practice, Beahvorial Science, 7(4): 69, DOI: 10.3390/bs7040069
The following are a couple of examples of how art therapy has helped refugees heal in Uganda and Syria:
Art Therapy: Refugees in Ugandan Camp Using Drawing and Drama to Heal Trauma
Run by refugees from DRC and Burundi, Opportunigee is the first and only entrepreneur network in the Nakivale refugee camp. Members have started art-therapy initiatives to help young refugees heal from conflict and displacement. Art therapy helps provide a supportive environment where the children can talk openly about traumatic experiences, using art to express their feelings and overcome stress.
Syrian Refugees Explore Their Grief Through Art Therapy
An art therapy workshop for Syrian refugees was organized in Jordan. The workshop was meant to give refugee children an opportunity for self-expression, and a way to deal with the trauma they have endured the past five years.
Supporting displaced people through art making and art therapy.
Established in 2006, Art Refuge UK works through art and art therapy with people who have been displaced due to political or religious persecution, armed conflict, trafficking, natural disaster and/or poverty. Their team of artists and art therapists deliver culturally relevant and responsive programmes in a wide range of contexts across the UK, Europe and internationally.
The Red Pencil: Humanitarian Mission
When words are not enough, art can help.
The Red Pencil brings the power of art therapy around the world to children and families who have been through traumatic life circumstances. Their programmes help individuals heal and grow through the arts, by offering an alternative way of expression towards balance, empowerment and resilience. Click HERE to watch the video below.
Transforming Lives through Public Art.
Artolution is a community-based public art organization that seeks to ignite positive social change through collaborative art making. Their projects bring together children, families, local artists, educators and community groups to address critical issues related to armed conflict, trauma and social marginalization by cultivating sustainable global initiatives that promote reconciliation, healing and resilience.
N.E.E.D.S. provides accessible services and support to immigrant and refugee children and youth and their families in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They help provide employment, education and social programs to develop life skills. They also run after-school art programming for children and youth.
Authored by The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Jan Stewart and Dr. Lorna Martin, Bridging Two Worlds: Supporting Newcomer and Refugee Youth provides teachers, school administrators and counsellors with practical resources to help students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 navigate school and connect it to careers and their future. More information can be found HERE!
The WHEAT team would like to sincerely thank each and everyone who has supported our work in training art therapists and expressive art therapists in the heart of the prairies! We are excited and honoured to continue our efforts by nurturing the dedication and passion for the therapeutic use of the arts. This past year was a momentous one as we celebrated the first graduating class of art therapists. We end 2018 with over 25 students training in the creative therapies, and dozens more that have enrolled in individual classes for professional development.
Here is a short recap of some of our significant milestones from the last year and what we are most looking forward to in the new year:
January – Di Brandt, Winnipeg’s first Poet Laureate, taught her first class exploring Poetry in Expressive Arts Therapy with WHEAT. This was followed by a second class held in August with our Diploma students.
April – WHEAT hosted the first Little Stones documentary screening in Winnipeg
May – WHEAT Director Darci Adam and drama therapy sessional instructor Csilla Przibislawsky were two of the creative arts therapists on the “I Know More Than I Can Say: Five Creative Arts Therapists in Clinical Practice” panel organized by the Creative Arts in Counselling Chapter of CCPA at the annual conference held in Winnipeg
July – classes began for the new 2018 Art Therapy cohort and students enrolled in a dual diploma – a combined Art Therapy & Expressive Arts Therapy program (first of its kind!)
July – in partnership with the Sioux Lookout Youth Poverty Reduction Strategy WHEAT Director Darci Adam and sessional instructors Linda Manitowabi & Tanja Woloshen traveled to Sioux Lookout, Ontario to teach WHEAT's Expressive Arts Therapy: Theory & Practice class
Summer – WHEAT started developing the first Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program in central Canada! We are looking forward to launching this new program next summer 2019 with the support of experienced instructors and therapeutic clowns from across Canada
August – David Langdon, Winnipeg’s most experienced Therapeutic Clown, taught his first class in Clowning with WHEAT
September – classes in Expressive Arts Therapy began in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Participants will have the opportunity to complete the full certificate program over the next year (September – August 2019). This is the first time our training has been offered outside of Winnipeg!
September – WHEAT hosted a Culture Days drumming event with Val Vint & the Buffalo Gals and Jay Stoller & Drum Café at the Forks Oodena Celebration Circle
October – a video montage of the 2017 IEATA Conference, co-hosted by WHEAT and held in Winnipeg last October 2017, was released. Watch it HERE!
November – WHEAT celebrated the class of 2018 - the first graduating class of WHEAT and the first graduating class of art therapists in central Canada! We held a special ceremony and celebration on November 11th with over 70 guests in attendance.
November – announcement of the new Clown Play course with David Langdon, to be offered in a series of Saturday classes (January - May 2019)
There is lots to be excited for in the new year. Our intention is to open up registration for the new Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program as soon as possible. We also welcome expressive arts expert Kate Donohue back to Winnipeg to teach her two classes in August (both of her classes will be open for professional development - click HERE to learn more) and we will have the addition of several new instructors, including Tzafi Weinberg who will be teaching our Art Therapy Studio class in February and Maria Riccardi who will be leading our first year Art Therapy classes next summer. There may also be a couple other new faces ... announcements to come soon!
WHEAT wishes all our students, instructors, staff, volunteers and community supporters – past and present - a very bright holiday and warm new year! See you in 2019.
With gratitude,
WHEAT Institute
On November 11th, the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute celebrated the first graduating class of Art Therapists in Winnipeg at the historic St. Norbert Arts Centre.
As the only art therapy training institute in central Canada we celebrated and honoured our first graduating class of Art Therapists on Sunday, November 11th at the St. Norbert Arts Centre with prayers, a smudge, a ceremony, open mic, dance and bonfire. It was a dynamic, fun and memorable evening!
WHEAT Institute offers top-quality training programs in Art Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy and (new for 2019) Therapeutic Clowning. Established in 2014, WHEAT accepted its first cohort of Art Therapy Diploma students in 2016.
Hailing from Winnipeg, rural Manitoba and rural Saskatchewan, WHEAT grads work in a variety of art therapy related disciplines and have engaging stories to tell of their research and their journeys to realize their dreams of becoming art therapists.
We launched seven talented and compassionate new art therapists into the world with our first annual graduation. There were prayers by the fire and drum song, grand entry with the big drum, photo slideshow of our two years together and lots of attention to the diverse and interesting research these grads carried out on route to becoming art therapists.
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this a night to remember! Special shout outs to our grads and their friends and families, instructors, students, supporters and friends of WHEAT Institute and WHEAT Director Darci Adam.
View the full photo album on the WHEAT Facebook page. Congratulations to our class of 2018!
Art therapy provides an alternative, cooperative and creative approach for addressing emotional and psychological difficulties with a firm basis in psychodynamic theory and developmental psychology. The Art Therapy Diploma at WHEAT is an intensive program spanning the course of two summer intensives, online coursework, practicum experience and supervision, and a final research project.
“Art therapy combines the creative process and psychotherapy, facilitating self-exploration and understanding. Using imagery, colour and shape as part of this creative therapeutic process, thoughts and feelings can be expressed that would otherwise be difficult to articulate.” - Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA)
Dawn Chaput came to Art Therapy with a background in community resources and the arts. She is grateful to bring these two paths together through art therapy, along with her belief that we are all on a healing journey. She is dedicated to the decolonization of therapeutic practice and centers her work around a holistic view that integrates all aspects of wellness through a person-centered lens. She is passionate about being a helper in a way that supports people in finding their way, through the art process, to wellbeing.
Donna Garofalo is currently the children's counsellor with Eastman Crisis Centre's Agape House shelter for women and children. Delivering art-based programming through Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg, the St. James School Division, the Steinbach Arts Council and various home school collectives, Donna has worked directly with thousands of children across the province. In her artistic practice, Donna has exhibited work in a variety of gallery settings and her work is held in private collections across Canada, the U.S. and overseas. Donna now uses her experience to support the process of healing for children and families seeking to move beyond the negative effects of domestic abuse. Donna's approach unites thoughtfully applied art therapy interventions rooted in a supportive framework of child development, attachment theory and current understanding of neurobiology. Donna holds a BFA (Honours) and a BA (psych) from the University of Manitoba. Donna has completed her coursework and will be completing her thesis and practicum hours in 2019.
Angela Meyer graduated from the WHEAT Institute as an art therapist after working as a social worker for over 15 years following graduation from the University of Manitoba with a BSW. She has a passion for working with the images that facilitate one to become the greater expression of one’s authentic self. She has a person-centred philosophy and utilizes a variety of approaches tailored to the individual. These approaches include a psychodynamic approach, cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, solution focused therapy, attachment theory and an existential approach. She has counselled individuals and groups and has facilitated an open art studio for over five years. She is currently employed at Sara Riel Inc. as a social worker for over 10 years and has extensive experience working with individuals experiencing mental health difficulties.
Joye Platford completed her expressive arts therapy training with Darci and shortly after enrolled in the art therapy diploma.She describes herself as a daughter, sister, auntie, ordained Presbyterian minister, teacher, cancer survivor, friend and ally. Her thesis was 'Eve and Me.' It is a look at women’s understanding of Eve in the bible as an archetype and how that effects their own spirituality and self understanding. Eve and woman have been blamed for many downfalls of the world. But that only comes from a Western Christian worldview - such is not the case for Eastern Orthodox Christians or Aboriginal Spirituality or many other faiths. When women look at the story of Eve closer they can find strength and resilience. Instead of looking for the original sin, we can look for the original blessing, "We were made in the image of God, male and female.' We are loved, Women and men - all people are children of the Creator.
Dana Stefanson BFA, DWHEAT, is an emerging art therapist with a background in the arts and education. Dana is passionate about using art therapy in closing the gap between the available services for mental health treatment and the growing need for innovative, culturally sensitive, holistic, accessible care. She believes that by treating not just the whole person, but the whole family, the whole community, with a natural, expressive, intergenerational approach, the cycle of trauma can be addressed, and a healthful transformation achieved. Her roots in rural Saskatchewan and involvement with many community organizations have shown her that in difficult times if people can come together with care and support, any obstacle, injury,grief or trauma can be overcome.
That is why Dana believes that an important piece of the puzzle is making mental health services accessible, especially for marginalized populations, by offering it in community settings. She is interested in suicide prevention, improving educational and mental health outcomes, reconciliation, relationship building, empowerment, and lifelong learning. Dana operates an open art studio and private practice, and works as an education assistant.
Joanna Watt graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts (1999), double major in Studio Art and Communication. After immigrating to Canada, she completed her Art Therapy Diploma (2018) with WHEAT Institute. Joanna has worked as a Mental Health Proctor III for Prairie Mountain Health since 2012. Her private practice, Pipestone Art Therapy, is located in the RES Center in Reston, Manitoba. Working with agency’s from Southwest Manitoba and individual clients of all ages, Joanna is passionate about making mental health services accessible to rural communities.
Sue Weldon is a mother, grandmother,educator and art therapist who first discovered the transformational power of art as an adolescent. She has since used the creative process to parent, teach,and to heal. She currently works as a resource teacher with adolescents with intensive needs in a school setting, where she bears witness to the transformative power of art in others.
Happy fall!
While many students returned to school this past week, our art therapy and expressive arts therapy diploma students have wrapped up their summer intensives and are moving forward with their practicum placements and online coursework.
The summer started with our second year diploma students learning how to work with groups, youth and seniors. They also completed classes on using art therapy to address addictions and spent two days immersed in the world of business, learning basic skills to help establish their own private practices.
Students were invited to a series of experimental learning classes - including drama therapy and modalities in the expressive arts.
"Principles of Drama Therapy with Csilla Przibislawsky was such a nourishing experience, where I completed the course with an abundance of tools and knowledge that can be integrated into my practice. Csilla taught beautifully and seamlessly in way that allowed for easy understanding of the material through a very experiential way of learning. I'm very grateful for this experience!"
Students explored the use of poetry with Di Brandt (Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate) and embraced their inner clowns with our first Therapeutic Clowning class!
"Not only was the clowning course fun and interactive, but I gained so much knowledge in the wonderful, powerful healing world of therapeutic clowning. We need more clowns!"
These were followed by our much-loved movement (Butoh dance) class, where students explore the beauty, expression and freedom of moving! Expressive arts therapy students spent five days with Kathleen Horne, an instructor seen as an "asset to the expressive arts therapy field" by our students. First and second-year students also explored Indigenous woodland style art with Victoria McIntosh. Be sure to check out our last blog post for photos of their beautiful art work!
Our summer intensives concluded with our first year art therapy students spending 10 days with Karen Wallace, where they looked at the different research, skills and techniques of art therapy and were introduced to working with trauma.
During our last week of art therapy classes WHEAT had a surprise visitor! John Reyes, MLA for St. Norbert, was at the St. Norbert Arts Centre (SNAC) to announce the government’s commitment to local investments by awarding a community places grant of $35,554 to help support SNAC’s Accessibility Upgrade Project. While he was there he dropped in to say hello to our students.
As the summer wraps up WHEAT is looking ahead to our fall and winter classes. We will soon be announcing all the final workshop dates for the Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program which begins in November. There are also a couple of spots left in our popular Focus Centred Art Therapy class with Karen Wallace November 9-12.
If you are interested in registering for any of our classes or programs please contact us info@wheatinstitute.com
The days are longer and warmer, which means WHEAT's summer courses have begun! In June we held our final weekend together with our (first!) graduating Art Therapy Diploma cohort. We are excited to host a graduation celebration in the fall.
Our 2017 Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy diploma students will start their summer intensives mid-July, and we are looking forward to welcoming our new 2018 cohorts later in the month!
It is not too late to join us! You can register for one of our drop-in professional development courses offered in July, August or November in Drama, Poetry, Clowning, Movement, Indigenous Arts or Focus Centered Art Therapy. All dates can be found below. Send us an email at info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in attending any of these classes.
Want more from WHEAT Institute? Subscribe to our newsletter HERE and receive a free PDF with art therapy-inspired exercises for the classroom. We send 2-3 emails a month with course programming updates, job postings, art therapy news, community arts events in and around Winnipeg, and more. Unsubscribe anytime.
We will be taking a short break from publishing new blog posts, so watch for our return in September! Have a rejuvenating and safe summer!
As published on April 4, 2018 on WHEAT's LinkedIn (HERE)
The path to becoming a Registered Canadian Art Therapist (RCAT) is varied in that individuals from a variety of different backgrounds may be able to pursue Art Therapy as a career.
Many have been pleased to discover Art Therapy as a second career after first pursuing a career in teaching, social work, or fine arts. Others pursue Art Therapy as a career from the start of their educational planning. The field of Art Therapy values backgrounds that are as diverse as the clients we serve.
Regardless of your age or educational background, there are some key requirements to becoming an RCAT in Canada.
Do you have an undergraduate degree in one of these fields?
Psychology / Fine Arts / Social Work / Counselling
If so, you may be eligible to pursue further training in Art Therapy.
If you have an undergraduate degree in a different, but related, field, we can conduct a prior learning assessment to determine your course equivalencies.
Prerequisite courses for the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute’s Art Therapy Diploma include: Developmental Psychology (3 credits) and Abnormal Psychology or Psychopathology (3 credits). This work may also be completed during the course of study.
You can find the full list of art therapy training programs that meet the Canadian Art Therapy Association (CATA) standards on their website.
If you’re planning to pursue education while maintaining your current employment, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma may be right for you. With a summer intensive in Winnipeg and online education from September to April, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma has been specifically designed to fit the schedules of teachers (and others working in the education system), and other presently employed individuals.
Congrats, you’ve started your professional training in Art Therapy! Savour the words of wisdom from the Art Therapists and creative professionals who came before you, and relish in the opportunity to bring your skills, compassion and creativity together all in one place. For the students who find us, this creative and therapeutic process is a sweet elixir, and one that has also led most students to immediate opportunities in a field they are passionate about.
To register with Canada’s Art Therapy regulating body, or CATA, you are required to have completed the following:
*Graduation from an accredited Art Therapy training program in Canada
*Registration as a professional member of CATA for six months
*1000 hours of additional art therapy client contact time beyond your training program combined with 50 hours of post-graduate supervision with a registered Art Therapist.
The CATA website provides answers to frequently asked questions on registering.
The opportunities are limitless! Previous students of WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma have ventured into professional opportunities at established counselling practices, local health care facilities, schools, and many have began their own personal Art Therapy Practice.
In fact, WHEAT’s Art Therapy Diploma provides coursework in entrepreneurship and managing your own professional practice so that you may have the tools to succeed as a professional Art Therapist.
If you’ve read up to this point and you’ve been waiting for a sign to switch careers, let this be that sign! Art Therapy is an emerging field and offers numerous opportunities for creative career paths.
Contact WHEAT today info@wheatinstitute.com or 204-293-3869 to learn if Art Therapy is right for you.
After a bit of a hiatus we are happy to be back updating our blog. 2017 was a whirlwind of activity! We started our two new diploma cohorts in Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy during the summer.
At the beginning of October, we co-hosted the International Expressive Arts Therapy (IEATA) Conference on Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts in Winnipeg. It was such a rewarding experience to have hundreds of participants from across the country and abroad join us! We are looking for your 2017 IEATA Conference stories and photos! If you had an enlightening conference experience and want to share, please send us a message via Facebook with your story and/or photos. Note that we will be compiling testimonials for sharing through our networks. Miigwetch!
In December we launched our Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program. Our first offering is the 5-weekend series on Personal and Professional Practice which started the weekend of December 9th and continues into April 2018. We have five fantastic specialists in their fields excited to share their knowledge with our students.
Our professional development courses and programs are valuable to anyone wishing to integrate the arts into their personal or professional practice, including school counselors, therapists, healers, coaches, educators, resource teachers, elders, clergy, and artists.
Winter/Spring 2018 Expressive Arts Therapy weekend workshops: Join us in one of the upcoming weekend workshops. Drop-in registration is still open for any individual weekend! Space is limited, so please contact info@wheatinstitute.com if you have any questions or are interested in registering. Meet all our instructors HERE on our faculty page.
2018 - 2020 Art, Expressive Arts, and Drama Therapy Diploma programs: Registration for our 2018 diplomas is open! Deadline to apply for one of our diploma programs is April 30th. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with renowned instructors, including Kate Donohue and Christine Lummis, while exploring the therapeutic use of the arts! You will take part in summer intensives, online coursework, practicum experience, and ongoing supervision. Further registration information can be found at http://wheatinstitute.com/registration
Summer 2018 Professional Development courses: Several of our summer elective courses will also be open for drop-in registrations. This is the perfect chance to learn from renowned experts in the field! Courses include: Principles of Drama Therapy with Armand Volkas August 2018; Poetry in Expressive Arts Therapy with Di Brandt (Winnipeg's 1st Poet Laureate) August 8-10, 2018;Clowning in Expressive Arts Therapy with David Langdon August 11-13, 2018; Movement in Expressive Arts Therapy - Instructor TBD August 15-17, 2018; and Indigenous Ways of Knowing Through the Arts August 19 - 22, 2018 with Darci Adam & Indigenous WHEAT Facilitators.
Fall 2018 Certificate programs: We will be making announcements soon about the 200-hour Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate Program, in addition to a new specialization with David Langdon in Therapeutic Clowning! The first of its kind in central Canada!
Winnipeg Foundation Scholarship: WHEAT Institute, in partnership with The Winnipeg Foundation, offers the opportunity for supporters to make tax-deductible contributions to the Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy Scholarship Fund. All gifts are greatly appreciated and contribute to the development of excellence in the therapeutic use of the arts. This scholarship helps to provide meaningful one-of-a kind learning opportunities to prospective students.
If you are not already subscribed to our newsletter, and would like to keep up to date on what is being offered at WHEAT and other community art events, please sign up HERE You can also follow us online on Facebook and Twitter.
And, lastly, we are excited to share new insights from WHEAT alumni, students, faculty, and professionals on the blog! Email wheatinstituteoutreach@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing.
Therapeutic Clowns Canada is a network of professional therapeutic clown practitioners working in healthcare facilities and communities across Canada. They define a professional therapeutic clown as one who:
· is specifically trained to work in the health care field
· abides by a code of ethics
· is committed to be a regular presence in the health care setting
· collaborates routinely with other members of the health care team
· engages in on-going training and development
· receives appropriate remuneration for the work
"With their focus on the imaginative and the creative, therapeutic clowns offer new opportunities for play and laughter, for self-expression and self-acceptance, for mastery and empowerment, and for moments of tenderness and comfort. We believe that these interactions have an impact on everyone's experiences and perceptions, and thus help to humanize the health care setting.We honour and respect those we serve (patient, resident, family and staff), and offer ourselves as resources they may freely choose to access. We believe that we are co-creators with them, and that the joy, creativity, tenderness, and wealth of benefits arising from our exchanges are a collective creation of all involved. As therapeutic clowns, we see our role as being supportive and inspirational in nature, facilitating and encouraging emotional well-being. The patient, resident, family or staff member is the one whose imagination and creativity we wish to foster, celebrate and set free."
(from the statement of Principles of CATC/ACCT* Therapeutic Clowns Canada was formerly a professional association called the “Canadian Association of Therapeutic Clowns/ L’Association Canadienne des Clowns Therapeutiques” (CATC-ACCT))
We are excited to be working with Therapeutic Clown, and Child Life Specialist at the Winnipeg Children’s Hospital, David Langdon to introduce clowning to the Winnipeg community! David is considered an elder in the Canadian therapeutic clown community. He is a founding member of CATC/ACCT and has been featured in various media and presented and led workshops at numerous conferences and events. In 2006 he received the Robo Award for excellence in therapeutic clowning by the Ontario Hospital Association.
This winter/spring David will be offering a Clown and Clown Play: An Introduction class, open to adults with an interest in artistic clown. Theatre experience or previous training is not a requirement. The intention is to introduce, promote and generate clown excitement in Winnipeg!
The course will focus on the art of clown and the formation of clown persona. It will be in workshop form with some video. This workshop format will comprise of clown training exercises, games and play scenarios to facilitate the student’s exploration of an emerging clown character. Students will engage in “clown play”, and explore the relationship between clown, the pleasure of play, and sharing this pleasure with an audience.
Through clown play and theatre exercises the student will explore and use:
• The principles of "finding the game", "the pleasure of play", "sharing one's pleasure" and "advancing the game"
• The clown play dialogue
• The principle of complicity and "the wink"
• A personal clown persona
• The red nose as mask
• "Tics", “fixed point”, and modulation of tempos to physically support one’s inner clown
• Costume and make-up as a means to accentuate and support the inner clown persona
• Improvisational skills in clowning
• The roles of clown as both balance bringer and order breaker
• High and low status in clown and how status can be modulated
• Classic clown “lazzi”
Clown and Clown Play: An Introduction is tentatively scheduled for 10 Saturdays between mid-January – end of May. Please email info@wheatinstitute.com if you are interested in having your name added to the list of interested students! We will email more information once finalized.
And we are working towards launching a new Therapeutic Clowning Diploma program next summer! This training will be intended for adults with theatre and previous clown experience. More details to come.
This past Friday, October 19th 2018, WHEAT was present at the MTS PD Day (Manitoba Teachers Society - Professional Development Day) for MART and MSCA - Manitoba Association of Resource Teachers and Manitoba School Counselors Association, respectively. It was great connecting with teachers and school staff about the therapeutic use of the arts!
Our 200-hour Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate program offers an experiential exploration of the therapeutic use of the arts. Designed with School Counselors and Resource Teachers in mind, classes take place on weekends during the school year and are eligible for credit with the University of Winnipeg. You may also elect to register individually for courses or drop-in for weekend workshops.
Expressive Arts Studio: Theory & Practice and Practicum Skills - a series of 8 weekends
Expressive Arts Therapy: Personal and Professional Practice – a series of 5 weekends that explore mindfulness, poetry, creative drama, Indigenous knowledge and movement!
Registration Deadline: October 31st, 2018 More information can be found at http://wheatinstitute.com/aeatipp
The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) published a blog about the benefits of school-based art therapy. Children and youth benefit from art therapy in a variety of ways. Research has shown that children with autism may use art to communicate and hospital patients, such as children in cancer wards, are often comforted by art therapy. However, art therapy is not only beneficial to children with special needs or those facing long-term hospital care. AATA believes that one way to make art therapy accessible to every child is to bring it to the schools.
"Creating art promotes sequential reasoning and organization of thought for those faced with overwhelming feelings but lacking the coping mechanisms to properly process them. Art can serve as a way to map pictorially that which cannot be examined verbally. Order can be visually established in the midst of psychological chaos."
Further information about using art therapy in the classrooms can be found in this paper written by William C. Forrester (Regis University, 2007) Art Therapy in the Mainstream Classroom. Forrester writes that "[t]he purpose of this project will be to provide art educators with a curricular unit plan that is based on the premise of art therapy."
If you are interested in learning more about our Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate, or any of the individual courses or weekends, please send an email to info@wheatinstitute.com
"Movement is a basic form of communication that provides us with opportunities for socialization, the development of community and the experience of expressing our aliveness and our innermost thoughts and feelings." - Nana Koch
In this American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) talk, Nana Koch, board certified dance/movement therapist, licensed creative arts therapist and award-winning educator, introduces the viewer to the profession of dance/movement therapy, its history, and describes an approach to group work.
Nana Koch, Ed.D, BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC, LPC, CMA is a board certified dance movement therapist, licensed creative arts therapist and educator. Nana studied with pioneering dance therapist Liljan Espenak in one of the earliest courses she offered at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital/Mental Retardation Clinic. Since Espenak’s passing, Nana has been the sole practitioner teaching her system of psychomotor therapy. She has worked with a range of clinical populations including children and adolescents with developmental delays and adolescents and adults with affective disorders, psychosis and/or addictions. Additionally, Nana has taught dance/movement training courses in New York, Costa Rica, India and China.
“Dance touches everybody, regardless of your position of power, your age or your race,” says 40-year-old Congolese choreographer Fabrice Don de Dieu Bwabulamutima.
Bwabulamutima travels with his dance, drama, & music program ‘Refugees on the Move’ to refugee camps across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He teaches people who have experienced war and violence how to overcome trauma, rebuild their self-confidence and learn to live with other people again. This is healing power of dance! To learn more about this amazing work check out the article HERE and watch the video.
We are so excited to offer the upcoming classes:
Our 2-day workshop on Movement with Tanja Woloshen April 14-15, 2018
3-day summer immersive on Movement in Expressive Arts Therapy August 15-17, 2018
Further information on these classes will be posted online soon! In the meantime, if you are interested in either of these please contact info@wheatinstitute.com to be put on our list.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Culture Days drum circles on September 29th! The sun came out to join us in rhythm and community. We started the afternoon with Val Vint and the Buffalo Gals leading an Indigenous drum circle, followed by African drumming with Jay Stoller and Drum Cafe Winnipeg. We were so happy to be part of the hundreds of drumming and rhythm-inspired events that occurred across the country in celebration of Culture Days and Nuit Blanche. Scroll down for some photos from our afternoon!
All photos were taken by Sam MacKinnon, our Social Media Coordinator.
WHEAT Institute is very excited to be included among more than 7,500 free activities that are already registered to take place in some 900 communities across Canada as part of the 9th anniversary of Culture Days happening on September 28, 29 and 30, 2018. This year’s theme is “On Beat”, drumming and rhythm inspired activities.
Métis cultural teacher Val Vint has been offering drumming and singing circles around Manitoba for more than 30 years. Born in Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Val draws from a background of photography, ceramics, painting, engineering, design, theatre, writing, performance and public art, music, travel and work with other Indigenous peoples. Val's present direction is influenced by her heritage as her genealogy stems from community artists and activists known throughout Manitoba's history. Val will be joined by members of the Buffalo Gals, an Indigenous Style Drumming Group that was founded in January 2004. Now over 50 women and girls of all ages gather together to drum, sing, and celebrate the Indigenous culture. The group provides an outlet for artistic development, role modelling, self-expression, and healing.
Jay Stoller is an African drumming specialist who has studied African music for over 20 years and operates the Drum Café in Winnipeg for the past 8 years. He is also the musical director and lead drummer for Nafro Dance. Jay’s background includes intensive study of African Drumming and culture in the country of Ghana, West Africa, where he lived for over 4 years. That experience has led him down a path where he is now a highly sought-after performer, teacher and facilitator.
Drumming circles are a joyous and gentle pathway to community development and harmony and are an experiential way to share Indigenous teachings.
On September 29th the public is invited to join WHEAT in a cross-cultural drumming extravaganza! Free and open to the public, you will be encouraged to drum and dance alongside Val and Jay.
EVENT DETAILS
DATE / TIME: Saturday, September 29th at 3 – 5 pm
3 - 4 pm: Val Vint and the Buffalo Gals
4 - 5 pm: Jay Stoller of Drum Cafe
LOCATION: Oodena Celebration Circle at the Forks
Drums, shakers and other instruments will be provided. Dress for the weather as we will be outside.
CULTURE DAYS EVENT
FACEBOOK EVENT
Celebrating its 9th Anniversary, Culture Days will be celebrated in hundreds of cities and towns from coast to coast to coast, with thousands of free activities from a wide range of disciplines including: visual arts, music, dance, theatre, architecture, heritage, film and video, literature, culinary arts and new media. To learn more, please visit www.culturedays.ca
As conference co-chairs, we were inspired by the findings of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the resulting 94 Calls to Action to honour and amplify respect for Indigenous ways of knowing and to improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. October 2017, we gathered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the heart of Turtle Island - Manitouabee – the Straight of the Great Spirit. As a global expressive arts community, we were in wonderful anticipation of using all of our senses and capacities to immerse ourselves in our conference: Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts - Globally and Locally: Transformation, Social Justice and Social Change.
We started our journey with an invitation to Decolonize through the Arts during a 5-day pre-conference workshop at Windy Hill, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. This beautiful forest venue offered a welcoming place to retreat and learn from Armand Volkas and Victoria McIntosh through meaningful engagements with drama therapy activities, art and Indigenous knowledge. A highlight of our pre-conference offerings was Elder Dave Courchene’s workshop at Turtle Lodge Indigenous healing centre in which we were invited to reconnect to our spirits and the Earth in celebration of our interconnectedness. From that place, we learned ancient Indigenous knowledge based on the 7 Sacred Teachings of the Anishnaabe. Pre-conference speakers Armand Volkas, Lita Fontaine, Kate Donohue and Allen Sutherland were all noted as providing an exceptional start to a weekend full of activities!
Our daily conference keynote speakers inspired and stretched us to wrap our hearts and minds around Indigenous teachings and worldview, and we took in a vast array of breakout sessions to allow experiential exploration of the topics. Our evenings and free time were filled with events that connected us to Winnipeg’s rich cultural heritage including a highlight visit to the stunning and informative Canadian Museum of Human Rights. On Friday evening we were invited to laugh and share in Tomson Highway’s stories and music at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Saturday evening we experienced teachings of local Indigenous Elders and pioneers in the field of expressive arts, capping off the evening with a drumming and African dance party with Casimiro Nhussi.
The conference was a powerful experience that united us and welcomed positive energy and active participation in the junction between Indigenous teachings and the expressive arts. The weekend concluded with a planetary dance of joyful celebration of our time together! With the willingness, openness and curiosity that nourishes a good journey, we were left feeling wiser, braver, healthier and happier, and with many new friends and perspectives to enrich the journeys that followed.
We have maintained a Facebook page at Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts and welcome your engagement there. We will be following our immersion experience up with a second annual WHEAT retreat The Art of Sacred Play at Windy Hill August 27th – 31st, 2018 with Indigenous Culture and Language teacher, Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner, meditation teacher and master of contemplative art practice in the Shambhala tradition. We hope to see you there or in San Francisco in 2019!
All our relations,
Darci Adam and Renee McGurry, IEATA Conference 2017 Co-Chairs
* View the conference summary page on IEATA's website HERE
WHEAT is excited to announce that we will be offering a 5-day experiential art, play and spiritual practice workshop with Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner this August!
The Art of Sacred Play: Dharma & Indigenous Teachings Through Meditation & Contemplative Art Practice will be offered August 27-31, 2018 at Windy Hill Retreat Centre (near Traverse Bay Corners on East Lake Winnipeg). Participants will be immersed in the Indigenous Anishinaabe and Shambhala-Buddhist worldviews through art-making and experiential learning - being guided through prayer, meditation and contemplative art activities in music, calligraphy, movement and poetry.
Join Anishnaabe Language and Cultural teacher and art therapist Linda Manitowabi, and Shambhala Dharma art teacher and music historian Lance Brunner in this 5-day experiential art, play and spiritual practice workshop, which merges two venerable wisdom traditions to offer teachings and practices helpful in living a good life – mino-binaadiziwin. The workshop is offered within the current Canadian context of reconciliation, wherein Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are called to cross over to understand each other. Quickly we realize we knew very little about each other in the first place and have the opportunity to begin anew – as if meeting for the first time. By approaching awareness and knowledge from these two perspectives, we hope to foster deeper understanding, greater possibilities for peace, and increased interest in, respect, and compassion for each other and the natural world.
Linda will teach, and lead exercises drawn from the Indigenous Anishinaabe worldview and the Four Directions to guide us to create balance and harmony in our body, mind, spirit, and emotional well-being. Lance will do the same from the Shambhala-Buddhist tradition, and in particular the so-called Dharma Art teaching of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan founder of Shambhala.
From an Anishnaabe perspective, teaching, understanding, sharing, and healing starts in a symbolic Circle that creates balance in the Universe. In the Sacred Circle we can bring our minds together as one. We are all one and the same in a Circle and on Mother Earth. All our Anishinaabe teachings follow the natural laws of the Circle. From a Buddhist perspective, Trungpa Rinpoche showed through both his example and his teachings how one can lead one’s life as a work of art, as a means of perceiving beauty and meaning in everyday life. Dharma Art emerges out of meditative awareness and a profound sense of nonaggression, wherein we experience the capacity to meet the phenomenal world as not separate from us.
This 5-day retreat will provide participants an immersion into both worldviews through art-making and experiential learning. You will be gently and playfully guided through prayer, meditation, and contemplative arts activities in music, calligraphy, movement, and poetry. The sacred is in the daily, and we are all inter-connected. Through living artfully, with mindfulness and awareness, we can be of greater service to each other and better stewards of our environment.
When: August 27 - 31, 2018 We will begin at 9 am on Monday, August 27th and end in the late afternoon Friday, August 31st
Where: Windy Hill Retreat Centre. Learn more about this welcoming place of retreat and learning located at Hillside Beach, Manitoba HERE
Instructors: Linda Manitowabi and Lance Brunner. Learn more about them on our faculty page HERE
Proceeds after expenses will support the Elder Harry Bone Award for Indigenous students training with WHEAT Institute.
Full Cost: $1,100 before July 1st ($1,200 after July 1st) covers full 5-day retreat, all meals and accommodations. Accommodation is provided at the Windy Hill Retreat Centre. Senior/Student/Sliding Scale is $900 before July 1st ($1000 after July 1st).
Workshop only: $500 before July 1st ($700 after July 1st).
To Register: fill out the registration form and send a completed copy to info@wheatinstitute.com by August 13th, 2018. Register before July 1st to receive discounted price.
Please join us on this journey!
WHEAT Director Darci Adam (pictured above, left) and Drama Therapy sessional instructor Csilla Przibislawsky (right) were two of the creative arts therapists on the Creative Arts in Counselling panel May 12th! There are approximately 281 members of the Creative Arts in Counselling Chapter of CCPA.
The five (Manitoba based) creative arts therapists sitting on the panel were:
1. Darci Adam – expressive arts therapist
2. Lee-Ann Adams – music therapist
3. Tanis Dick – art therapist
4. Karissa Marten – dance/movement therapist
5. Csilla Przibislawsky – drama therapist
The therapists were presented a clinical case study on Ian, a 12-year-old boy, and were asked to address the following questions:
A) What assessment tools would you use?
B) What approach would you use?
C) What would be the focus of your treatment?
D) What would be your short – and long – term treatment goals?
E) Describe your intervention(s) and how they apply to your specialization.
F) How do you approach diversity and inclusiveness in your work?
*Each therapist was given 10 minutes; these are brief notes. The panel was filmed and is intended to be uploaded to the Creative Arts in Counselling website.
Darci Adam
- Use of expressive arts, multi-modalities
- Likes to incorporate Nicole Bell’s medicine wheel
- Address goals for holistic health. Short-term would be a physical expression as a release. Long-term would be self-regulation skills
- Systematic interventions that includes a systems meeting
- School interventions, such as creating a friendship group
- Work to understand Ian’s worldview, relationships and anger
- Use of drumming, puppets, clay, mapping, etc.
- Positive corrective attachment experiences (example: reading and snacks)
- Create context for safety, playfulness and communication of feelings (example: play outside, fairy tales, sword play, etc.)
- Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Lee-Ann Adams
- Start with attachment interviews
- Explore musical domain and musical experiences and interests
- Family-centred perspective. Partner with Mom
- Pattern-repetitive sensory input to help regulate your brain organization and thoughts
- Aggression can be performed through musical expression, such as drumming!
- Use of piano improvisation
- Therapeutic music lessons to work on self-regulation, mindfulness, emotions and social skills
"All creative art therapies are non-threatening and fun!"
Tanis Dick
- Understand family historical trauma and parenting capacity to help determine the resources and strengths
- Collect auto-biographical data through interviews and art exercises
- Focus on experiences of joy with children
- Therapy with kids cannot be in isolation away from the parent(s) or caregiver(s)
- Ask whether Ian can tolerate being with an art “helper”
- Create a map to understand how Ian sees himself and his world
- Process-centred art making that is attachment-oriented
- Art brings out discovery and sensory skills, and is calming and helps with regulation
- Importance of developing a relationship with the materials – they are dependable, always there, non-judgmental, safe, etc.
"Philosophy: that creative processes are healing!"
Karissa Marten
- Has developed movement assessment coding sheets to help understand body alignment and shapes
- Tailored interventions through the use of the assessment coding sheets between Ian and his parents
- Reactive attachment disorder
- Use his body to find moments of calm
- Incorporate as many elements of choice as possible (music selection, movement preferences)
- The simplest, but often most powerful, intervention is breath work
- Explore emotions (example: create an angry dance)
- Use of mirroring and dance dialogue
"Universality of movement – it is a language and connects us!"
Csilla Przibislawsky
- Attachment and trauma assessment
- Look into medical history and identify unmeet needs
- Empathy between family members
- Unstructured play sessions with parents
- Building delight into relations
- Use of drama games that involve closely watching and listening to one another (example: monologues and “telephone” game)
- Importance of humour!
- Developing social skills and empathy with peers (example: drama school group)
- Role engagement and maintenance - role-play, playback theatre techniques, expressions of emotions
Audience question: What are your go-to recommendations?
Darci Adam
Using Expressive Arts to Work with Minds, Bodies and Emotions by Helen Wilson and Mark Pearson
Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination by Shaun McNiff
Lee-Ann Adams
Raising Parents: Attachment, Parenting and Child Safety by Patricia Crittenden
Tanis Dick
Expressive Arts Therapy for Traumatized Children and Adolescents: A Four-Phase Model by Carmen Richardson
Karissa Marten
Disarming the Playground: Violence Prevention Through Movement and Pro-Social Skills by Rena Kornblum
American Dance Therapy Association website
Csilla Przibislawsky
Trauma Informed Drama Therapy: Transforming Clinics, Classrooms and Communities by Nisha Sajnani and David Read Johnson
North American Drama Therapy Association website
Note: other therapy specializations include play therapy, use of poetry, clowning … anything that is fun and creative! Art is healing!
Email us if you have any questions or recommendations for resources that we can share! Other websites to visit include the Canadian Art Therapy Association and International Expressive Arts Therapy Association.
What an inspiring evening Friday, April 20th! Thank you to all those in attendance for supporting the documentary and WHEAT's Scholarship Fund. Little Stones is an amazing documentary exploring art for social change and we are looking forward to planning a second screening in Winnipeg. Sign up for our newsletter HERE so you don't miss the annoucement!
Thank you Sophia Kruz (Driftseed) for joining us via Skype to discuss your motivation behind Little Stones and Lunda Wanda Galdames for sharing your work with The Dream Room Project - a local not-for-profit that paints rooms in various organizations and community centres into "magical spaces of healing" for youth facing emotional, mental, physical or economic challenges.
If you would like to learn more about Little Stones, and how you can take action through art, check out the "Take Action" page or email WHEAT Institute at info@wheatinstitute.com
April 20, 2018 at 7 pm
Eckhardt Gramatte Hall (3rd floor of Centennial Hall), University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue
Advanced tickets available for $15 at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/little-stones-documentary-screening-and-artist-panel-tickets-43561588885 or $20 at the door
The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute will host a community screening of the award-winning documentary film LITTLE STONES. Little Stones follows Brazilian graffiti artist Panmela Castro, Senegalese rap-singer Sister Fa, Indian dance therapist Sohini Chakraborty, and fashion designer Anna Taylor as they use their art to combat violence against women and to empower women and girls globally.
Directed and produced by EMMY® Award-winning filmmaker Sophia Kruz, Little Stones was filmed in Senegal, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, India and USA. The film won Best Foreign Documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence from the Impact Docs Awards. A Q&A with the filmmaker, and local artists Jaime Black and Luna Wanda Galdames, will follow the screening. WHEAT is thrilled to host this community screening of Little Stones. As Director of WHEAT, Darci Adam, explains:
“WHEAT Institute is committed to the empowerment of women through therapeutic art-making. We recognize the power, necessity and beauty of art in social change. All income from this event go towards WHEAT scholarships including the Bea Anderson Memorial Scholarship for Artists and the Harry Bone Scholarship for Indigenous Students.”
Film Synopsis - From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, Little Stones profiles four women, each of whom are contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women’s movement through their art. The film and accompanying education initiative have been designed to raise awareness about global women’s rights issues, and to celebrate creative, entrepreneurial, and arts-therapy based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing women globally.
About the title “Little Stones” - The film’s title comes from suffragist and women’s rights activist Alice Paul’s 1974 quote, “I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone.” According to director Sophia Kruz:
“The sentiment, that we all have a role to play in the global fight for equal rights, to me perfectly encapsulated the work of each artist featured in the documentary, and my own goals for LITTLE STONES. I hope the documentary encourages creative dialogue and expression around issues of global gender based violence, and that through Driftseed, the 501c3 non-profit organization which Singh and I founded during production, we will continue to grow the mosaic of the women’s movement, stone by stone.”
About the women featured in Little Stones
1) Panmela Castro - www.panmelacastro.com
Brazilian graffiti artist Panmela Castro was named the best Artist of the Decade in 2010 at the Hutuz Awards. She has risen to the top of the male-dominated graffiti world in Brazil by charting her own path, and using street-art to raise awareness about an issue that hits very close to home: domestic violence.
2) Sohini Chakraborty - www.kolkatasanved.org
Sohini Chakraborty was a dancer and sociologist in 1996 when she began volunteering at a shelter for sex trafficking survivors in India. She knew instinctively that dance could help girls reclaim their bodies after the trauma of trafficking, and over the past 2 decades, Chakraborty has touched the lives of over 65,000 survivors throughout South-East Asia, training over 50 survivors to become professional dance movement therapists.
3) Sister Fa - www.sisterfa.com
Senegalese singer and activist Sister Fa is a survivor of childhood female genital mutilation. She’s now based in Berlin, but is a controversial figure throughout West-Africa, where she regularly tours, using her fame to spark a dialogue around genital mutilation, which is still too taboo to discuss in many communities.
4) Anna Taylor - www.judithandjames.com
American fashion designer Anna Taylor first moved to Kenya to work in Nairobi’s slums when she was in high school. There, she met an unemployed seamstress named Judith, whom she hired to sew her clothing designs. In 2011, Taylor founded Judith & James to train and employ impoverished Kenyan women to produce high fashion clothing. In 2013, at the age of 22, Taylor debuted her collection at New York Fashion Week.
About Director Sophia Kruz - Sophia Kruz is an EMMY® award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her work has screened at film festivals and museums globally, and broadcast nationally on PBS. In February, Kruz gave a TEDx talk about the film Little Stones and using art and culture to create social change. Her talk can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-96lxOpEyg
About Jaime Black – Jaime is an emerging, Metis multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg. She has taught in Opaskwayak Cree Nation in the Pas, Manitoba, has worked developing art curriculum for the Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art, and has long been involved in the Aboriginal writers and artists communities in Winnipeg. She is currently a mentee with Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA). In her artwork, she attempts to create a dialogue around social and political events and issues, through provocation or creating space for reflection. She is particularly interested in feminism and Aboriginal social justice, and the possibilities for articulating linkages between and around these movements. Jaime is the artists behind the REDress Project, which focuses around the issue of missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada. http://www.redressproject.org/?page_id=27
About Luna Wanda Galdames - Luna is an interdisciplinary indigenous artist from Chile now living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A primary focus of her work continues to be the human body and identity. As an immigrant to Canada she has been a participant and observer to how identity is attached to place, and her interest is in the results achieved by removing people/objects from specific spaces. She also founded the dream room project (La sala de los sueños Inc.) a Winnipeg-based, not-for-profit charitable organization helping children and youth heal from traumatic experiences through art by transforming bedrooms in homes, group homes, treatment centers, shelters and community-based healing centers into hope-filled spaces. http://www.thedreamroomproject.ca/
Watch the Little Stones trailer: https://vimeo.com/187500137
Purchase Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/little-stones-documentary-screening-and-artist-panel-tickets-43561588885or $20 at the door.
Little Stones is an award-winning documentary by filmmaker Sophia Kruz which follows four women who are using art - fashion, graffiti, hip-hop and dance - to empower women and girls around the world. We hope you will join us for the screening and live Skype Q & A with Sophia!
When: Friday, April 20th at 7 pm
Where: Eckhardt Gramatte Hall, University of Winnipeg
Tickets are $15 and available online at http://bit.ly/2COqyvr Proceeds will support our scholarship fund for art therapy students through the Winnipeg Foundation. If you would like to contribute directly to this fund, please visit http://wheatinstitute.com/gifts
From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, Little Stones profiles four women, each of whom are contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women’s movement through their art. The film and accompanying education initiative have been designed to raise awareness about global women’s rights issues, and to celebrate creative, entrepreneurial, and arts-therapy based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing women globally.
Directed and produced by EMMY® Award-winning filmmaker Sophia Kruz, Little Stones was filmed in Senegal, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, India and USA. The film won Best Foreign Documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Vail Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence from the Impact Docs Awards.
Watch the official trailer HERE!
* This post was originally published March 15, 2017 for the IEATA - Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts Therapy conference in Winnipeg October 4-8, 2017
Bozhoo! Tanisi! We are thrilled to welcome Aandeg Muldrew as our Indigenous language teacher.
Join us in Call to Action #14 which acknowledges “Aboriginal languages are fundamental and a valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them.”
We invite you to learn basic conversational Anishnaabemowin (Ojibway) and Nehiyawewin (Cree – in this case Swampy Cree). Listen, practice, like and share! Miigwetch! Kinanaskomitin!
Facebook: IEATA Conference 2017 Twitter: @IEATAcon2017
Are you ready for more? Check out the complete series on YouTube:
Ojibwe and Cree 2: What’s your name, my name is…
Ojibwe and Cree 3: Where are you from, I’m from…
Ojibwe and Cree 5: spirit name
Ojibwe and Cree 6: how are you/feeling?
Ojibwe and Cree 8 I’m well part 2
Ojibwe and Cree 10 I’m sick p2
Ojibwe and Cree 12: I’m cold in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 14: Thank you in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 15: Thank you in Cree pt 2
Ojibwe and Cree: 16 I’m hot in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 17: Are you hot in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 18: a little, in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 19: I’m hot in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 20: a little in Cree
Ojibwe and Cree 21: I thank you in Ojibwe
Ojibwe and Cree 22: I am thankful for it
Ojibwe and Cree 24: I arrived yesterday
Ojibwe and Cree 25: When are/did you arrive?
Ojibwe and Cree 26: I will arrive tomorrow
Ojibwe and Cree 27: I’m from __
Ojibwe and Cree 28: Where are you from
Ojibwe and Cree 29: Where are you going
Ojibwe and Cree 30: Do you see him/her
Ojibwe and Cree 31: Do you like it?
Ojibwe and Cree 32: It’s nice to see you
Ojibwe and Cree 33: I’ll see you again
Ojibwe and Cree 35: at a later time
Ojibwe and Cree 37: conference
Ojibwe and Cree 38: do you know him/her?
Ojibwe and Cree 39: I know him/her or I don’t know him/her
Ojibwe and Cree 40: I know who you’re talking about
Ojibwe and Cree 41: What are you doing?
Ojibwe and Cree 42: What is s/he doing?
Ojibwe and Cree 43: I’m singing
Ojibwe and Cree 44: I’m dancing
Ojibwe and Cree 45: I’m drumming
Ojibwe and Cree 46: I’m eating
Ojibwe and Cree 48: I say. I said
Ojibwe and Cree 49: What is s/he saying?
The Winnipeg Holistic Expressive Arts Therapy (WHEAT) Institute offers top quality training in Art Therapy, Expressive Arts, Expressive Arts Therapy and Therapeutic Clowning in Winnipeg, Canada. Darci Adam, WHEAT Director, is a Registered Art and Expressive Arts Therapist with Masters' Degrees in Drama and Educational Psychology (Counselling), as well as Diplomas in Education and Art Therapy. She is the Regional Representative for the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA).
WHEAT is committed to using the universal language of the arts for healing, self awareness and social justice. There are currently more than 30 students enrolled in diploma and certificate programs, plus dozens more whom drop in to select courses for professional development. Last fall WHEAT celebrated the first graduating class of Art Therapists in central Canada! WHEAT also co-hosted the 2017 IEATA Conference on Indigenous Roots of Expressive Arts in Winnipeg.
WHEAT classes are provided in a gorgeous urban retreat wilderness area at the St. Norbert Arts Centre in the Guest House at the Trappiste Ruins in St. Norbert, as well as at the Arthur Street Studio in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District.
WHEAT invites American and international students to drop in to the magical, sensory world of healing through the arts and discover the arts’ playfulness and transformative power. There are exciting opportunities to train with internationally acclaimed faculty in Winnipeg this summer! Taking place in the tranquil, historic, natural setting of the St. Norbert Arts Centre these training opportunities are perfect for school counselors, resource teachers, educators, clinicians, therapists, healers and artists. Professional development and Expressive Arts certificate courses are open to international students. Course hours can be used towards registration as professional members of IEATA. Register this spring to confirm your spot before classes fill up!
Tamalpa-trained Korean-American performance artist
This workshop pulls from Dohee Lee’s training and practice in Korean Shamanism and performative ritual by utilizing techniques that connect to voice, body, heartbeat and spirit. Learn the principle of Sound Healing, Grounding body and mind through sound/music, Tuning body, creating strong as storytelling and creating a Ritual.
Winnipeg’s most experienced Therapeutic Clown
This course introduces the student to the art of clown in general and to therapeutic clowning specifically. The course will be primarily in workshop format; supplemented with some lecture, reading and video media. Students will engage in basic “clown play”, and begin to explore the relationship between clown, the pleasure of play, and sharing this pleasure with one's audience. Videos will be used to introduce students a variety clown styles and approaches.
Master Teacher & Therapist and co-founder of IEATA
This workshop will introduce participants to the experience of trauma and how to address it as an expressive arts therapist. Participants will also be introduced to the traditional definition and theory of trauma, brain research in relationship to trauma, the stages of trauma and indigenous healing practices that address trauma, i.e. expressive arts therapy. Participants will explore the Jungian understanding of trauma and how it interlaces with expressive. The workshop will include an intuitive and didactic understanding of these aspects through readings, assignments and multi-arts processes.
This course introduces participants to the archetypal and developmental approaches to character/personality development using mythological themes that underline human development and the complexes that create the psychopathology framework. Participants will also be introduced to art as healing from an indigenous perspective including discussion of traditional symbolic cross-cultural healing practices and concepts of healing and wellness; the origins of the arts as a diagnostic tool from traditional perspectives, complexes as a healing function and the use of multi-arts processes to address the healing of developmental, traumatic and cultural wounding.
Indigenous artist, teacher & Elder
This workshop offers participants exposure to a local Indigenous world view through Indigenous art and personal art-making. Participants will explore methodologies, concepts, cultural perspectives, ceremony and art forms of Indigenous people of Manitoba. In addition, there will be an exploration into how art can assist in the reconciliation process as a tool for healing, self-understanding and dialogue.
WHEAT’s Expressive Arts Certificate program begins with a ten-day intensive (July 16 – 26, 2019) that will include Studio classes with Marg Janick-Grayston, MDiv, REACE, Dohee Lee and Darci Adam, WHEAT Director. Students will explore the theoretical foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy and learn hands-on strategies for healing through art-making, drama, music, writing and movement.
This is followed by Practicum Skills with Darci Adam, an applied counselling course offered over a series of 5 Saturdays (Zoom option can be made available for students outside of Manitoba), and Expressive Arts Therapy: Personal and Professional Practice, a series of 6 weekends with guest instructors specializing in mindfulness, poetry, creative drama, Indigenous arts and movement. This training is relevant for use in schools, agencies, recreation settings, private practice and for self-care.
Students can register for individual courses and individual Personal & Professional Practice weekends.
Expressive Arts Certificate student:
“Having been a student services teacher for more than a decade I have had many opportunities to support students through a myriad of experiences. The students in our classrooms have experienced loss, anxiety, mental illness and trauma. Every WHEAT learning opportunity provides me with knowledge and strategies that I can immediately implement with my students. I have witnessed a marked difference in my students’ success and mostly in my ability to help them on their healing journey. WHEAT learning is the perfect balance of theory and practical experiences. My new knowledge and framework for understanding and supporting students is changing the way I support students. Students are more receptive to the new interventions and are demonstrating increased participation and internalization of wellness, and skill generalization for self-care, student learning, managing emotions and interactions with others. This immersive learning experiences is refreshing and empowering!”
Expressive Arts Diploma student:
"Entering the WHEAT Expressive Art Therapy diploma program has presented so many life-altering and life-affirming moments. Along this incredible journey of learning and self-discovery, I have often paused and considered how fortunate I have been to connect to the incredible faculty and fellow students. In a word, WHEAT is transformative!"