School-Based Expressive Arts Training for Student Success and Teacher Well-Being

We are very excited about this dynamic offering which intends to support schools in accessing the power of the arts in supporting student engagement, inclusion, and sense of belonging, while also supporting teacher well-being. The program can be accessed by teachers, counsellors, resource, administration, and EAs, who can apply individually or as a school team.

We invite you to join our launch on Thursday, January 11, 2024. We are offering a condensed January – August 2024 program and a full-year program beginning next October 2024 – August 2025. The winter 2024 training includes online classes outside of work hours, 10 in-school consultation hours for each particular school participating, as well as a 5 day land-based summer immersion at Painted Sky Studio on the Eastern shore of Lake Manitoba at Laurentia Beach, St. Laurent, MB.

Please contact us if you are interested in speaking further about how this training may be of benefit to you and your school.

Email: info@wheatinstitute.com

Call: 1-431-887-2787

We are very proud of our program faculty, which includes highly trained expressive arts practitioners with long standing experience in schools and agencies, who will make this learning journey unforgettable. Learn more about our program facilitators here!

Tatum Albert

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Text: “Explore the Therapeutic use of the Arts in the Classroom. Tatum Albert. “Indigenous Perspectives in the Classroom”. A Cree/Michif/Polish women from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Tatum has worked in the social work field n various capacities with children and families in social work/Indigenous social work in preventative services and educational settings as a community development and councillor and First Nations Metis consultant focusing on Trauma Informed Practice in the classroom. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com.”. The poster features a photo of Tatum Albert and the text overlaid over an background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

Tatum Albert has an amazing depth to her practice, which is informed by her cultures, social justice awareness and incredible initiative and creativity in developing appropriate programming for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth. In addition to teaching in the program, Tatum is available as consultant to your school for 2-hour blocks in fall and winter as well as one full day in spring to support applying your program learning on Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing into trauma informed practice in your school setting.

Tatum is a cree/michif/polish woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her family originates from the Red River Settlement and Turtle Mountains, moving into Batoche, Saskatchewan. Tatum graduated with a Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work in 2001. She received a Bachelor of Education with honors from the University of Saskatchewan-SUNTEP program in 2018 and a Master’s in Social Work in 2020 from the University of Regina. Tatum has worked in the social work field in various capacities with children and families in social work/indigenous social work in preventative services and educational settings as a community development and counselor and First Nations Metis Consultant focusing on Trauma Informed Practice in the classroom. Tatum has taught Indigenous Studies, English, Social Studies, and Art Education in Secondary schools. She is currently an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University and a sessional lecturer at First Nations University of Canada. Tatum incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into curriculum and classrooms through the land, social justice, and expressive art practices in secondary subjects and Indigenous social work practice.

Dawn Chaput

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Text: “Explore The Therapeutic use of the Arts in the Classroom. Dawn Chaput. Somatic-based Arts Applications for Self-Regulation. Dawn is grounded in the generous space that the expressive arts provides to folks looking for support in their journeys. Her helping work has seen her in various roles, providing resource building experiences, educational workshops, therapeutic groups, creative exploration and counselling services with individuals, families, and groups throughout the province. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com.” The text and a photo of Dawn Chaput is overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

Art therapist, artist, and WHEAT grad Dawn Chaput brings a strong studio orientation to her work, combined with a deep respect for Indigenous cultures and worldviews. Sensitive and attuned, with a love of gardening and the land, Dawn teams up with experienced educator and art therapist, Sue Weldon to explore: Using Arts for Individual Planning: Meeting Unique Needs through the Arts.

In this half-day session, participants will learn about student-centred planning for students with unique needs. Expressive arts allows us to meet students where they are at, promote success and reflection, and can inspire hopefulness and positive self regard that can increase engagement, sense of well-being and of support. Participants will have an opportunity to:

• Explore ways to assist students at different developmental levels.
• Learn how the arts can support engagement in social-emotional learning.
• Share experiential art activities that promote self-awareness and self-expression in support of self-determination and regulation.

Dawn RCAT (2021) BFA (2013) is grounded in the generous space that the expressive arts provides to folks looking for support in their journeys. She approaches her work with a person-centered lens and is committed to doing the kind of work that helps folks to recognize and use their own inner compass through reflection, creative process, and somatic awareness. Dawn is a settler doing her best to walk with humility in a commitment to decolonizing therapeutic practice where she lives on treaty one territory. Her helping work has seen her in various roles, providing resource building experiences, educational workshops, therapeutic groups, creative exploration and counselling services with individuals, families, and groups throughout the province.

Bevan Klassen

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Explore the therapeutic use of the arts in the classroom. Bevan Klassen. Multimedia Creativity, Digital Storytelling, and Video Making. Bevan has been an art therapist and owner of Deep focus Art Therapy since 2021. He has clients using his therapeutic video making process through CancerCare Manitoba, Ndinawe drop-in centre, Tanis Dick & Associates, and Manitoba School Divisions. Bevan graduated in 2021 with his Art therapy Diploma from WHEAT Institute. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com”. The text and a photo of Bevan Klassen are overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

Film maker, art therapist and WHEAT grad, Bevan Klassen, amplifies the capacity of children and youth to communicate complex emotions and stories through accessible film techniques. His unique skill set helps teachers integrate those practices to support their students to tell their stories in powerful, evocative, and transformative ways.

Bevan has been an art therapist and owner of Deep Focus Art Therapy since 2021. He specializes in video making as art therapy with teens, adults and children who have challenges with anxiety, depression, or trauma. Bevan has clients using his therapeutic video making process through CancerCare Manitoba, Ndinawe drop-in centre, Tanis Dick & Associates and Manitoba School Divisions. He offers a variety of creative activities that go into the making of a video including storytelling, drawing, drama activities or video editing to encourage individuals to express their voices, discuss their challenges and reframe their story. Learn more at https://www.deepfocusarttherapy.com

Marcia Novo

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Explore the therapeutic use of the arts in the classroom. Marcia Novo. School Based Expressive Arts Applications. Marcia is a high school principal in The Pas, Manitoba. In 2021 she graduated with her Art Therapy Diploma from WHEAT Institute. Marcia believes wholeheartedly in school-based art therapy and is passionate about advocacy for more mental health services within public schools. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com”. The text and a photo of Marcia Novo are overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

Marcia Novo is a High School Principal in The Pas, Manitoba, home of the Swampy Cree on Treaty 5 Territory. In 2021, she graduated with her Art Therapy Diploma from WHEAT. At this time, an opportunity presented itself to take on a leadership role within her school. Although it wasn’t the plan, she decided to pursue this path. Before moving into Administration at an Alternative High School, she was a High School Guidance Counsellor. She incorporated Art Therapy into her counselling with her students and was encouraged by the positive response. She believes wholeheartedly in school-based art therapy and is passionate about advocacy for more mental health services within public schools. Marcia was born and raised in Northern Manitoba. She and her siblings lived on a small acreage with their parents, who were both teachers. They spent much of their childhood wandering through mossy floored forests, gathering berries, building forts, and picking wildflowers to pop along the roadside. She feels connected to the land and now raises her three young children with the same core roots in the land. When she is not at the local rink cheering on her boys, she is in her garden or perfecting her homemade bagel recipe!

Rodelyn Stoeber

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Explore the therapeutic use of the arts in the classroom. Rodelyn Stoeber. Curricular Connections through the Arts. Rodelyn has worked as an educator, consultant, and school administrator. She has experience in all grade levels from K-12 and was a professor in the Faculty of Education at St. Boniface University. Rodelyn graduated in 2022 with her Dual Diploma in Art and Expressive Arts Therapy from WHEAT Institute. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com”. The text and a photo of Rodelyn Stoeber are overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

WHEAT grad, experienced educator, and arts therapist, Rodelyn Stoeber weaves a deep understanding of how curriculum, teachers, and kids work well together through an arts based lens and ways to improve their convergence. With a unique gift for designing and sharing relevant and effective arts-based interventions, Rodelyn will collaborate to build capacity in teaching to all learners and grounding arts activities in the curriculum. In a dynamic and original offering, Rodelyn and Tatum will also collaborate to offer: Using Arts-Based Interventions to Explore BIPOC Perspectives on Diversity and Resilience. Arts-based interventions can be a creative and powerful way to engage with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) perspectives on diversity and resilience, providing a platform for storytelling, healing, and social change.

• Participants will learn how trauma liberation and advocacy using the arts has promoted resilience in the BIPOC population.
• Educators will learn how inter- generational trauma impacts BIPOC populations and communities and how art-based interventions can be used.
• Educators will learn how to integrate the ideas of social movements into curriculum to highlight BIPOC resilience through arts-based interventions.

Rodelyn has worked as an educator, consultant and school administrator. She has experience in all grade levels from K-12 and was a professor in the Faculty of Education at St. Boniface University. Her passion for the expressive arts in schools developed as a result of the increasing social-emotional needs of students and the desire to support teachers in the classroom. She is delighted to be able to share her knowledge with other educators.

Sue Weldon

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Explore the therapeutic use of the arts in the classroom. Susan Weldon. Meeting Universal, Targeted & Specialized Needs in Schools. Susan is an educator who trained as an art therapist to teach and learn from students who express themselves differently in the classroom and community. She has used therapeutic art to give students living with autism a voice, and offered art as a conduit to expressing identity, developing peer relationships, and living in the community. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com”. The text and a photo of Susan Weldon are overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

Sue Weldon brings many years of experience in as diverse a variety of school-based roles as you can imagine, including school and divisional administrator and provincial educational consultant, as well as bringing her experience as an art therapist. Sue is highly aware of the power of the arts as communication tools for students, particularly for those with the greatest challenges feeling heard.

Sue is a mother, grandmother, sister, and educator who trained as an art therapist to teach and learn from students who express themselves differently in the classroom and community. She has used therapeutic art to give students living with autism a voice, and offered art as a conduit to expressing identity, developing peer relationships, and living in community.

Tanja Woloshen

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Explore the therapeutic use of the arts in the classroom. Tanja Woloshen. Art and Movement in the Classroom. Tanja is an Independent Dance Artists/Educator. She has performed and studied across N.A., EU, and SE Asia. She maintains a practice of dance making and performance and is currently on faculty with WHEAT Institute and the Winnipeg School Division. info@wheatinstitute.com. wheatinstitute.com”. The text and a photo of Tanja Woloshen are overlaid over a background image of colourful pencils and crayons.

To explore ways to keep movement alive in the school setting, we joyfully connect you to artist, teacher and visionary Tanja Woloshen for her School-based Expressive Arts class Movement and Meaning- An Intermodal Approach. She and a colleague are offering an Arts and Wellness pilot class in their high school setting, and she has much wisdom to offer you as an educator hoping to support students through the healing power of movement.

What can movement reveal? Where is the breath? How can we deepen our relationships with kin, place, and space through movement? Movement and Meaning- An Intermodal Approach, will explore some of these questions and more through a focus on movement/dance. These workshops are open to everyone- no movement/dance experience is required. Participants will be guided to follow as they wish and are able to. We will gain confidence and strength of expression together. In these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to:

• Experience an array of movement explorations, that can be later tailored to suit student needs
• Discover embodied connections with drawing, painting, writing, sculpture, and collage
• Explore cross-curricular and thematic ties

Tanja is an Independent Dance Artist/ Educator. She has performed and studied across N.A., EU, and SE Asia. Recent activities include the creation and performance of “Beautiful Loser”, for Art Holm (2021); National Dance Education Association Conf Presenter (2021); One Trunk Theatre’s “Western Chronicle”- choreographer (2021); “Memorials for Lost Bodies”- death studies in performance research & performance with Happy Phantoms Collective (2020); MAWA grant recipient for costume design/construction (2020); MB Arts Council Dance Creation Research Grants investigating posthumanism/ wilderness (2019/20); Dance Studies Assoc. Conf. Presenter (2019); “A Short History of Crazy Bone” – choreography for Theatre Projects MB (2018); “Holy Wild”- choreography & performance (2017); International Expressive Arts Therapy Association Conf. Presenter (2017). She maintains a practice of dance making and performance and is currently on faculty with WHEAT and Winnipeg School Division, with prior teaching engagements at ULethbridge, UWinnipeg, UBC-Okanagan, MTYP, The Wellness Institute, and RWB. Learn more about Tanja on her website.

Please contact us to learn more and register for our School-Based Expressive Arts for Student Success and Teacher Well-Being program launching this January 2024.

Email: info@wheatinstitute.com

Call: 1-431-887-2787