#AGAlive - Art Therapy with Olga Perju (May 12, 2020)

2020

Dara Armsden, Head of Education and Learning at the AGA spoke with Registered Art Therapist Olga Perju to discuss how the current public health crisis is impacting mental health, what we can do creatively to care for ourselves and finally, as a community, how we can hold space for each other in this unprecedented time and beyond.Dara Armsden, Head of Education and Learning at the AGA spoke with Registered Art Therapist Olga Perju to discuss how the current public health crisis is impacting mental health, what we can do creatively to care for ourselves and finally, as a community, how we can hold space for each other in this unprecedented time and beyond. …

Chapters

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Intro
Intro
0:00

Intro

0:00

Art and mental health
Art and mental health
5:09

Art and mental health

5:09

Coping with the pandemic
Coping with the pandemic
8:47

Coping with the pandemic

8:47

Getting creative
Getting creative
11:53

Getting creative

11:53

Recommendations
Recommendations
13:45

Recommendations

13:45

Tips for parents
Tips for parents
17:27

Tips for parents

17:27

What is an Art Hive
What is an Art Hive
19:14

What is an Art Hive

19:14

What is a Third Space
What is a Third Space
21:20

What is a Third Space

21:20

Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

Use CTRL+F to find key words if it is a longer transcript​.

Intro

0:00

starting events there we go hello

0:08

test test everyone can hear us feel free to let us know in the chat I

0:17

know you do not need art supplies [Music]

0:22

although you could be making art if you like okay well welcome everyone welcome to

0:29

another AGA live event I’m your host armsan and I am head of education and

0:34

learning here at the Art Gallery of Alberta um I am joined by olga Paju who

0:39

is a registered Canadian art therapist and certified counselor currently living in Edmonton um

0:46

Olga I have known each other for about four years and I am thrilled thrilled

0:52

with an opportunity to investigate and share with a broader audience some of our ongoing conversations so creative

1:01

health and education having received her master’s degree at Concordia University

1:06

in Montreal algún was immersed in community open art studios also known as

1:12

art hives the practice is focused on working with children youth and community here in Edmonton Olga has

1:20

worked with Evanson public schools and then most recently has moved into private practice welcome Olga thank you

1:27

for agreeing to to tell me today thanks so much for having me Dhara this is incredible I’m so happy to be here great

1:36

so today our topic encompasses the toll that the recent public health crisis is

1:42

having on our mental health how creative has art and creative practices support

1:47

our individual well-being and finally the role that it plays in boosting

1:52

healthy communities delve into that specifically I wonder

1:57

Olga if you can jump in and maybe give us an overview of what our therapy is

2:02

for sure so our therapy is a clinical practice that combines psychotherapy so

2:09

talk therapy um as a lot of people know it and a process so an art therapist has

2:16

specialized training in the field and a lot of our offices kind of look

2:21

more like art studios than they do like the traditional couch and chair type

2:27

scenario that were used to seeing and there’s they’re full of art materials all kinds of

2:34

you know paints and markers pencil crayons papers everything from clay to

2:40

things that you can make structures into and clients kind of have free rein of what

2:47

they would like to use in their session so by engaging in the creative process this allows clients of all ages and all

2:55

abilities to process their experiences and gain insights as well as meeting their therapeutic goals and that’s what

3:01

they’re working on with the support of the art therapists so art therapy could

3:06

help regulate emotions process big life experiences gain insight into what might

3:14

be going on for an individual could help boost self-esteem learn new

3:20

skills among many other things and you don’t need to have any kind of art experience or training to see an art

3:27

therapist it’s just about the way that you want to express yourself and

3:32

what makes sense to you amazing can you share with us what got

3:39

you interested in art therapy yeah so I’ve always been fascinated in humans and why we do what we do and then

3:48

I was also really interested in art making and the secret process of how

3:53

that has healing properties in and of itself my journey started actually in third

4:00

year of my undergraduate degree were my painting professor looked at me and said you know there’s a thing called art

4:07

therapy because he knew I was so interested in psychology and art and I looked back at him and so was like

4:15

really he’s like yeah I have a friend who’s in our therapist she doesn’t have

4:20

a job working as an art therapist but I’m sure you could figure it out and Here I am

4:27

over a decade later it’s really good it’s amazing how many

4:32

of the conversations happen in studios right absolutely yeah how do we you know where do we

4:39

choose or how do we choose those things right but it always I feel like starts with a conversation like I certainly

4:45

that’s that that happened to me when a friend of mine was like you should be a t-shirt and I was like really but I’m an

4:52

artist and then you know Here I am cheer you’re amazing so I really appreciate that that

4:59

sort of does that story can you talk a little bit about what the connection between art and mental health

5:06

is and what that means to you for sure so I mean mental health is a

Art and mental health

5:12

state that includes psychological and emotional well-being and that can look

5:17

differently in different people and then I think that you know we also refer to

5:24

it as like mental wellness and it’s a health like these terms are kind of interchangeable and wellness to me really means a state

5:33

of like equilibrium where all of your needs are met and you feel like you’re thriving in life that could include

5:39

social supports the environment that you’re in that has a huge impact in how we feel

5:45

I’m really in humans have been making marks for thousands of years I like to

5:51

say that you know since dinosaurs dinosaurs roamed we were making marks

5:57

and drawing pictures of our experiences and caves and we know that we feel good when we’re

6:03

making art even watching somebody else make art or looking at art can make us

6:10

feel at ease more calm and it can increase our mood

6:15

stabilize our emotions and shift even our physiological state so you might if

6:21

you’re checking in with yourself you might notice that you’re feeling you know overwhelmed or stressed or nervous

6:27

and then you start coloring or even doodling on the side of a page it can it

6:34

can shift the way that your body is responding to to whatever’s going on for you so art making can be therapeutic and

6:41

then when facilitated by a trained art therapist it can also help us overcome a lot of life challenges

6:50

okay so one of the questions that I have is given our current

6:57

state of affairs how do you think that the cobia nineteen

7:02

pandemic is affecting our mental health right now

7:07

well it sure feels like it turned everything upside down so we went into 2020 thinking that we

7:15

had all of these upcoming events milestones maybe even our regular daily

7:21

routines that we kind of like anticipated and expect it to be a certain way and this pandemic has

7:27

absolutely flipped everything around it’s there’s yeah definitely a feeling

7:34

of you know more anxiety more stress maybe feeling

7:40

like like you’re you’re a bit shaky your foundation isn’t so solid anymore

7:46

especially because we don’t really know what the future holds or what is going

7:52

to happen in the long run or when this is going to end so a lot of those unknowns can really spark a lot of

7:58

anxiety in us maybe feeling like we don’t have control

8:04

worrying more additional stressors from you know maybe

8:10

unemployment or the fear of losing your job staying at home with kids full time

8:17

while trying to juggle other responsibilities could have a lot of really negative impacts on our lives

8:26

general recommendations might you make for people that are currently social distancing maybe have some additional

8:34

worry are you know just trying to kind of navigate this really extraordinary

8:43

circumstance yeah I mean

Coping with the pandemic

8:49

despite how difficult this time has been I’m also blown away at how resourceful

8:57

and creative humans are so hearing stories of

9:04

birthday parties being celebrated from sidewalks in front of somebody’s house or

9:10

reconnecting with long-lost friends that maybe you hadn’t spoken to in months or years and now using virtual platforms to

9:17

do so yeah even walking around in our

9:22

neighborhood and seeing so many messages of love and hope in people’s windows I

9:28

don’t know if any of those things would have happened had we not been in this situation

9:34

and of course people respond differently and cope differently with this pandemic

9:40

and and our social distancing I think whatever you’re feeling is okay

9:48

maybe even some days you’re feeling like wow we I don’t know when this was going

9:53

to end this is freaking me out and some days you might say you know maybe it’s not so big a deal I’m just gonna follow

9:58

a justice guidelines and live my life and it’s gonna be okay

10:04

or somewhere in between but no matter what you’re feeling

10:11

you have every right to feel it and that’s what you should be feeling even though it can maybe feel like it’s going

10:17

up and down definitely check in with yourself go back to

10:24

yeah ways that have worked for you in the past to cope or deal with stressful situations

10:30

whatever works to soothe you maybe it’s going outside for a walk around your neighborhood or turning on your favorite

10:37

TV show listening to music or journaling and then also try to stay open to new

10:44

things so maybe you get curious about something that you see online on Instagram or somebody shares a friend

10:51

shares with you something that they tried you have nothing to lose really in trying it yourself and seeing what kind

10:57

of effects that has on you but just being gentle with yourself and kind of letting go of any expectations

11:05

that you may have had of how your daily life was going to go or what your

11:10

goals were gonna be for this year and just slowing slowing down

11:16

great thank you for that what are some strategies that you might

11:22

recommend to get to get started in something creative I we kind of talked about this before and

11:29

and and you know we we did a little Q&A on the website but

11:35

departed and how do we silent it’s not inner critic that’s like no you can’t do

11:41

this you know like I don’t know again it’s like the white page

11:46

challenge you link on that first mark

11:52

yeah crumple the white page if you have to

Getting creative

11:58

the hardest part is definitely just getting started and I think something

12:03

that I find useful is going away from literally the white page and maybe using

12:10

materials that you haven’t used before so and being creative could be

12:17

doing many things from you know woodworking in your garage to you know to build a raised bed for your garden or

12:26

yeah it could be using a lot of different materials and sometimes that gets you out of your head

12:32

try baking something that you’ve never baked before there’s a lot of creativity that goes

12:38

into cooking and baking and I think

12:43

just being conscious that your end goal is just to make something

12:50

it’s not about it being good or bad and it can only it can only be for you it

12:58

doesn’t have to have an audience it could be something that is just a way for you to express what’s going on for

13:04

you in that moment and sometimes that helps as well you can even make art and

13:10

destroy it after tear it up in a hundreds of pieces it doesn’t have to

13:15

last it’s more about the process of making something that’s important

13:22

we’re speaking my love language

13:27

I think about this a lot in the work that I do here at the APA so um yeah

13:33

it’s important stuff okay

13:39

recommendations when you make a parent or even kin

Recommendations

13:45

to get make an art yeah my favorite thing is the recycling bin I

13:52

think there are so many treasures my own house is right now

13:59

got a we had a big we bought a printer and we have this big box that was transformed

14:06

into a fire station it also doubles as a reading nook our little guy loves taking

14:13

screwdrivers and batteries right now he’s two-and-a-half

14:19

and tinkering around with things around the house but whenever I’m out of ideas I turn to

14:26

the recycling bin and see what I can pull out from there for little kiddos I think just playing

14:32

into their curiosity and about the world around them even though they’ve lived in

14:38

their house for hundreds if not thousands of days there’s always something new to discover and play with

14:44

so as long as it’s safe for them to use I definitely would encourage you to even

14:50

check out the tool kit maybe pull out all the things that are sharp work and damage like it may be hammer is under

14:59

supervision with supervision but otherwise just let them play and let them poke and let them touch and feel

15:06

and make whatever whatever they’re drawn to making

15:12

for the older kids I mean it’s definitely an opportunity to get

15:17

creative and get some new skills visual Diaries are really great and those can be in books or they can be like so like

15:26

and visual physical visual journals or digital formatting maybe a picture a day

15:32

documenting their experience right now that could either be shared on social media or just for their own viewing

15:39

pleasure so that they could remember what this whole shebang was all about

15:44

and then yeah building on skills may be practicing cooking or baking picking up

15:53

spatulas exploring things in the kitchen following the recipe it’s not only a life skill but it also

16:00

lets them be creative and build their confidence

16:08

[Music] I’m just gonna I’m just gonna plug I’m

16:14

gonna interrupt you in pledge are you not to like because they we are posting

16:22

100 or calm yes you are right

16:28

almost every day and so our goal is to

16:33

get teams activists three natives and take any form that is we’re trying to

16:40

encourage Iran to do it 15 minutes a day that’s it this is so creative for 15

16:46

minutes a day so but I really complete you saying sort of doing something like a daily practice is really you know

16:53

helpful and it helps to kind of process some of those [Music]

17:00

emotions or feelings again and I you mention this to like

17:06

just get getting out of your own head which I think a lot of money lose finding ourselves in and

17:13

parent as parents you know I think this

17:18

is something that happens too so do you have anything specific for parents that

17:24

they should be mindful of for oh gosh I think the biggest thing is just taking

Tips for parents

17:30

care of yourself really being mindful about what does it

17:35

mean for me to feel good what do I need to fill my cup

17:40

the better we feel as parents the better we can parent our kids

17:46

we’re definitely there barometers they might feel emotions and we’re the ones

17:51

they’re helping them to regulate them so and they also pick up on everything that

17:57

we feel they might not understand the complexity of what’s going on right now or the severity of it but they do know

18:05

that something is up and that maybe mum and dad or caregiver is feeling stressed

18:10

by it but there’s something different in the house so anything that parents can do to

18:17

now check in with themselves and take care of their mental well-being their

18:24

physical is thinking of the whole spectrum of humaneness spiritual well-being

18:30

and making sure that your cup is full so that when you’re hanging out with your

18:35

kiddos that you’re present and you’re helping them deal with their big emotions without being flooded yourself

18:48

and it’s easier said than done

18:53

absolutely so I want to switch gears because I want

18:58

to talk a little bit about some of the community work

19:03

that you’ve done and so a big part of your practice is working with community

19:09

art hives so you can you talk a little bit out what an art hive in for sure so

What is an Art Hive

19:15

an art hive is a community-based open art studio which means that it’s

19:21

embedded in a neighborhood or a community it’s open to anybody and there

19:27

are art materials there so that folks who walk in through the doors can create something

19:32

there’s no real direction or directive other than use your hands to make create

19:40

be creative be inspired by those around you or just happen to your own

19:46

imagination and make something there’s no guidelines for how long you

19:52

have to stay or yeah visits can be you know 30 seconds

19:58

or three hours depending on how long the studio is open it’s really

20:03

encouraging folks to reconnect to their maker self their creators they can be

20:09

teachers artists students trying on these different roles these different hats that maybe you don’t get to practice or tap into in your everyday

20:16

life and these art house can look at many different ways

20:22

Janice Tim batos is a professor at Concordia University and she I gave her full credit for

20:28

pollinating archives and spreading them all across not only Canada but the world

20:34

now she is someone that I admire a lot and

20:39

was my professor when I was doing my master’s degree in Concordia and I’ve learned so much from her and it’s really

20:47

yeah the foundation she’s brought forward all the theories and and the foundation of what art Heights are

20:54

and why they’re so healing in communities

21:00

now some of the terminology that that is

21:06

linked to an archivist is third base can you talk a little bit about what a

21:14

third thing is and in sort of why why is the benefit

21:19

yeah so a third space if we were to think of our home as the first place and

What is a Third Space

21:27

our work as the second archives fall in this category of third

21:33

places or spaces where we can be more maybe more creative engage in activities

21:40

with friends or brand-new acquaintances that we meet only in that space

21:47

these spaces aren’t new so things like cafes or public libraries

21:53

if you were to imagine yourself in those spaces that’s that’s the feeling of a third space it’s like in between home

21:59

and work where folks gather maybe from that community outside that community maybe

22:05

they’re just passing through or they’re invested and live in the community so

22:10

there’s this real cross-pollination of different people that enter the space and they’re there for a purpose of

22:17

sharing ideas within the context of art hives it’s for making art and building community

22:27

um doubly um and how does how does this the

22:34

space or place or I art house benefit a community yeah

22:40

I mean it’s a place for open dialogue and communication a lot of

22:46

self-expression and sparks a lot of social action and change I’ve really seen it transform

22:52

communities because neighbors from that community

22:57

have a chance to get together and they might otherwise might not have

23:03

and they can share their experiences about their daily life and maybe their

23:09

struggles and put their heads together and come up with a resolution or just different options or opinions on

23:18

what’s going on and if there is an issue in the community that enough people want

23:24

to solve then they have more they have more individuals who are buying into it

23:30

and coming up with a solution together so it really helps break down stereotypes you might cross paths with

23:38

with individuals that you otherwise wouldn’t talk to at all it definitely

23:44

builds connection you can reconnect with folks that maybe you haven’t seen in a

23:51

while and all that is tied together and woven into this art making space there’s

23:58

a lot of conversation that comes out of sitting and making something with your

24:05

hands when you’re kind of distracted in that way there’s this like energy that flows and conversation just moves

24:14

sometimes it’s there’s a lot of silence and other times the studios can be

24:19

really lively and fun one of the things that are the hives

24:24

that I’m really intrigued about it’s just accessibility could you a little bit about that

24:30

sure I mean so the dream is to have an art hive in every neighborhood across

Open Studios

24:37

Canada not the world really so they are open studios so they have

24:46

opening hours which vary depending on whatever studio decides on and folks can walk in off the

24:54

street enter the space a lot of it is sparked by curiosity when you’re walking by a space

25:00

you know the zillion times and then you’re like okay well there’s people in

25:05

there doing something together okay and another day you’re like oh they’re making art maybe like is it

25:13

so that’s curiosity definitely draws people in and

25:20

yeah storefront being on the main floor is definitely something that we consider

25:26

when starting art hives making it accessible for folks to actually enter

25:31

the space itself and then because it’s a third space I mean it’s kind of this

25:37

in-between world you don’t need to have a membership to enter you don’t need to

25:43

belong to any kind of institution so it can feel more accessible in terms of not

25:50

belonging not being like a university that you need to enter and feel weary about entering because you’re not a

25:57

student and there’s a lot of richness because it’s

26:03

it’s such like an intersection of all of the folks that make up a neighborhood

26:09

there’s a lot of sharing of skills and experiences so somebody might start

26:15

doing some weaving or a certain technique that

26:21

they know from maybe one of their ancestors or whatever culture they they’re from

26:27

and that might spark someone to ask them how do you do that can you teach me so

26:34

there’s a sense of pride and accomplishment and sharing their craft and then everybody gets something new

26:40

out of it and there’s this exchange of skill

26:46

Wow I was I was wondering if you might talk a

26:51

little bit about the art hives that you that you started in Montreal

26:58

so sure so I was really fortunate to be there when Janice was starting her first

Art Hives

27:04

art high of la mouche da so there was a group of us students and

27:10

community members who got together and launched that first art hive which was a

27:16

huge learning experience we went into it not really knowing what it was going to

27:21

be about and came out of it a small group of us wanting to start

27:26

another art high’s so that’s when co-op Nemean the year

27:33

began so a group of us started the Solidarity cooperative

27:39

in another neighborhood in Montreal and differently structured than LaRouche

27:46

there’s a lot of similarities between the two spaces but then a lot of differences as well and I think that’s

27:51

expected when starting an art have because the folks who start them have different dreams and different realities

28:00

and the neighborhoods themselves have different needs as well so co-op to me a

28:05

year was started as a solidarity cooperative and we had to

28:12

you know find a space like start from Ground Zero find a space and think of what our mission was and what community

28:20

we wanted to be in how we were going to pay our bills so we came up with the idea of having a arts and crafts paid by

28:30

weight

28:35

space it was like a it’s yeah it’s a store

28:42

where you can get art materials and you don’t have to pay by per item but you pay by weight so you fill a bin and with

28:49

whatever you’d like from the studio we weigh it and then you pay what you can actually for for the materials and then

28:56

we also had a little cafe um and made some treats to go along with

29:01

you know your lattes and that was another way that we made money we ran a lot of workshops that

29:09

were facilitated by community members blood classes and applied for a heck of

29:16

a lot of grants Jerry um can you can you just define for me

29:23

because I’m not sure what is solidarity cooperativity yeah so the reason why we

Solidarity CoOps

29:30

chose it’s a way of structuring a business so there’s it’s one of the types of cooperatives that you can you

29:36

can have and the thing that defines a solidarity co-op is that it has three

29:42

main categories so the members are either user members worker members or supporter community members which means

29:49

that everybody who is involved in the space or in the in in the studio has a voice and there is a fair representation

29:57

of how the studio is going to be run so

30:03

we had a board of directors that kind of took the lead but we’re always checking in with the community members and

30:08

working members and user members to make sure that we were on track and we were

30:15

giving the community what they needed and we wanted this to be the structure

30:20

that we used because we felt we felt responsible to respond to what

30:26

the community needed it wasn’t a community that any of the founding members lived in so we were

30:34

newer visitors there and we really wanted to make sure that the community itself had a voice and that whatever we

30:42

were trying to do in that community was driven by the members of the neighborhood and not by us as Outsiders

30:50

[Music] things up for me thank you um okay um

30:58

what what is it given your experience what is what does it take to facilitate a

31:05

successful art hive he kind of alluded to you know like

31:10

making sure that the community is sort of centered yeah in the the project

31:17

but are there any other yeah can I say blood sweat and tears or

Blood sweat and tears

31:24

is that a bit too cliche I think one of the biggest learning

31:32

biggest learnings that we took away from starting co-op Emilia was that you have to start small and we

31:39

definitely with that project started big we’re open six days a week for a lot of

31:44

hours in the day and so sometimes it felt quite daunting and we were putting a lot of time and energy into it

31:52

nevertheless the community members once they got to feel like they were part of

31:58

the studio and part of the project really took ownership of the space and were able to help out so

32:06

much but definitely it takes a an idea I

32:12

think of what you would like your art hive to be like there’s no real template for it so somebody who has this idea and

32:20

passion for opening an art hive and then other folks who have buy-in and would

32:27

like to be part of that vision I think it the work is a lot easier when you

32:34

have a group of dedicated people so if you’re thinking of this metaphor of

32:39

hives and bees I mean one bee couldn’t do what all the bees do in a hives I’m

32:45

sewing yourself with with other people that can support you is really important

32:51

we really believe that art can be made out of

32:58

many many things and there’s an abundance of materials out there so

33:03

asking for free donations from the community was essential to starting our

33:09

studio and we were flooded with them the

33:15

amount of materials that we received from the community and apart from that I think a really

33:23

great resource that was put together by Rachael Cheney who is works very closely

33:29

with Janice and is one of my dear friends and put together a PDF document that can be

33:37

accessed on art hives org and that kind of gives you an outline of what you need

33:44

to know about starting and I have just a snapshot and of course everybody makes

33:50

it their own but it’s a really useful really in-depth document that’s a good starting point

33:59

um yeah that sounds amazing now are there

34:06

any are times you’re in Alberta there sure are there’s one

Art Hives in Alberta

34:14

at the mustard seed neighborhood center which is right close by my studio here

34:21

in Richie in Edmonton and there is one

34:27

in a church over by one 24th Street and I apologize Laura foster facilitates that space and

34:34

I do not remember the name of the church but I’m sure we can get that resource out if anybody’s interested

34:40

there’s some yeah they’re kind of all over the place and there’s one of the YMCA as well

34:47

and again the art hive website is a really

34:55

great resource there’s a map on there that’s interactive and you can you can see where art hives are in

35:03

Edmonton and see which ones you can access more easily sure for someone that’s interested in

35:09

joining an art hive um with what do we need to know you just show up

35:18

like many things right now art hives have gone virtual so folks are meeting

35:25

online and making art together having great dialogue and then sharing what

35:32

they make there’s Facebook groups and zoom meetings popping up all over the

35:37

place and again art have zorg is a great

35:42

resource for that they have an extensive list of all of the virtual art hives with links to how you can access them

35:49

but you really don’t need much you don’t need to bring your own materials I mean if you’re working on a project and you’d

35:55

like to continue working on it in an archive you’re welcome to do so but there are definitely lots

36:01

of materials for you to use it’s really about kind of like all art making venture is

36:08

you just have to start you just have to walk in you just have to make a mark

36:14

wonderful lovely okay I’m interested in connecting this

36:20

back to sort of the pandemic it in just a small way recently the Alberta government has

36:26

initiative initiated a staged reopening strategy so yes that might change like

36:33

an art high or really change it at all I

36:38

honestly think it’s too early to tell I think some of the things that may change

36:47

is maybe the number of people that can access a studio

36:53

sometimes you’ll enter an art hive pre-pandemic and it will be full buzzing

36:59

buzzing with people making art to the point where you can’t even find a seat

37:06

for yourself so I wonder about that and I wonder about

37:11

regulations in terms of cleanliness sanitizing the space

37:18

hand-washing for participants but I don’t know I think like I think

37:28

no matter what happens we’re gonna be creative and come up with really great

37:33

solutions to reconnect

37:39

have you yeah lovely so I want to zoom out again so we’ve

37:45

been talking about art hives and my phone is ringing in my office and this is like my nightmare so

37:55

I’ll get to my question it’s not ringing anymore um so I wanted

38:03

to be about a little bit and say you know like art hives are just one strategy for sort of building the health

38:09

of the community but some how do we maintain that healthy community now that we’re in a pandemic

38:16

how do we maintain that healthy community I think

Community Leagues

38:23

making small changes for ourselves and for those around us bringing the focus

38:31

on maybe you first making sure that you’re well but

38:37

keeping in mind that even a small action goes a long way and taking those

38:44

bite-sized pieces there’s some really I mean community

38:50

leagues I think are a really incredible resource that is as far as I know I’ve

38:55

lived in Toronto and Montreal and this is the only place I’ve ever known community leagues to exist

39:01

but they are a lovely hub connecting folks in neighborhoods and

39:08

and still yeah have lots of initiatives that

39:15

can reach a lot of people and and and bring bring folks together even though

39:21

we’re apart so that’s a yeah if you’re you’re kind

39:27

of at a loss of how to connect with those around you if you reach out to your community League

39:34

that’s okay I there is a couple of I’ve been

39:42

hanging on to a couple of questions from from some of the people that are attending the webinar so I really want

39:49

to get into the now shy of that so Liliana asked with will go what’s your

39:55

art background what’s my art background so I have an undergraduate degree in studio art from

40:02

the University of Guelph and from there I meant what medium did

40:09

you work in I primarily did drawing and painting and

40:14

we’re specifically oil painting more recently

40:19

I’ve been a lot more interested in fiber art and textiles so I’ve been dabbling

40:24

with cross stitching and learning weaving I’m a lifelong crochet I call it

40:31

the punk rock of knitting because in my mind it has no rules even

40:36

though it has plenty of rules so yeah I think I I move from from materials and

40:46

yeah I’ve been a lot more interested in my background is Romania and I was born in Romania so I’m interested in

40:52

connecting some of those [Music] embroidery and beading and those kinds

40:59

of things and seeing what that looks like for me

41:06

thanks to them interested in fiber

41:12

and I got we got a question also from Christine she wants to know what a

41:18

typical art therapy session might look like yeah so our therapists work with

Art Therapy

41:25

individuals couples groups so it really depends on

41:31

who the art therapist is and what they specialize in or what they’re comfortable who they’re comfortable

41:36

working with so generally you would walk in to the therapy space and I mean if it’s

41:45

your first session you’d go through the limits of confidentiality and informed consent like you would with a

41:50

psychologist or a talk therapist the counselor and then some art therapists

41:56

are more directive so they might have depending on whatever it is that the client is there to work on they might

42:02

have some some project or a directive that they present to the client so something like

42:09

draw me a picture of your family or or

42:15

take this play-doh or plasticine and but into what you’re feeling right now

42:21

for example and and then others are a lot less

42:27

directive so really letting the client explore materials that are in the space

42:32

and pull whatever they’re drawn to onto a table and letting them make the art

42:39

and then near the end of the session there’s conversation about what that

42:45

process was like so facilitated by the art therapist just

42:51

questions around so what drew you to this color what was it like for you to make this

42:57

this work of art how are you feeling now do you feel like there’s a difference in

43:03

how you felt when you first came in versus how you’re feeling now is your piece missing anything is there anything

43:10

that you’d like to add or take away so there’s lots of yeah dialogue and I

43:15

think that’s where the richness of art therapy comes in because that’s when you

43:21

the process of art making kind of like folds itself and becomes one and that’s

43:30

where there’s a lot of the insight and kind of like the connections between

43:36

experiences that clients can make for themselves and we see clients for you know we could

43:42

do one session or we can do work with someone for years and years so it really depends on what the client

43:49

needs

43:55

thank you thank you that that’s really insightful into the into your practice

44:01

that what it what it might look like and what it might mean to kind of work through things in a

44:09

visual way um I have one final question for you Olga what is the number one

44:16

takeaway you would have everyone reflect on today hmm

44:22

whoa first thing that comes to mind is take care of yourself and of each other

44:29

we’re all in this together and it’s really really tough

44:36

but I think I think we can do it and if there’s anything you can do to

44:43

just flick that little critic that’s telling you that you’re not good enough or you can’t make that or why are you

44:49

even bothering to try if you could do anything to flick them off your shoulder and take a hike that would be lovely at

44:57

the end of the day even if you’re to make one one attempt at creating something that’s a win I think and if

45:06

not today there’s always tomorrow

45:13

so much for agreeing to dot dive into the topic with me and and with us is

45:20

there although before we sign up maybe you could let everyone know where they can find you if they have any question

45:26

any additional questions or if they want to follow up with you absolutely

45:31

so my practice is called Sparrow creative Counseling Center

45:38

the best way to reach us is by going to our website which is

45:48

www.hyken.com and we provide art therapy and

45:56

counseling services clinical supervision consultation to a wide range of individuals right here in

46:03

Edmonton even if you have a question for me about this conversation or anything that I do

46:08

in my work there’s no silly question please reach out I would love to hear from you and if you’re interested I will

46:16

be teaching a course about art hives at Saint Stephen’s College this summer it’s

46:21

going to take place online in the last week of July it’s open to anybody

46:26

whether you’re a student or not it’s open studies so anybody can take it and

46:32

you can find more information on the st. Stephen’s College website which is

46:37

University of Alberta dot CA / st. – Stevens

46:45

question mark no question mark up to double check that but definitely st. Stephen’s College here in Edmonton

46:56

love to see you join our course I think I wanna join

47:03

yeah get in there super Angelo to learn from you

47:09

well thank you all I guess so much before we sign off I just want to mention a couple of mental health

47:15

resources that are available for everyone sounds on wwa health alberta da da

47:24

you can also attack two-one-one for information about community resources in your area also

47:31

911 c services eight one one for our house link-belt hotline one eight seven

47:37

seven three oh three two six four two and the kids helpline

47:43

1-866 eight tune in for more programming from your

47:50

hea including our upcoming live conversation with nam Kobashi this Thursday at noon she’ll be leaving

47:57

a talk on our current exhibition nests for the end of the world so that’s the

48:03

upcoming thing and then if you missed our previous events or you didn’t get to stay till the end of this one or you

48:09

want to review it again then they’re all recorded and they’ll be able to you’ll you’ll find them on our

48:14

website so with with all of that information no thanks out into the world

48:20

thank you again for sharing your expertise and insight with us today

48:27

thank you so much Darin thanks everybody out there in virtual land and and thank

48:33

you everyone who stuck with us for the full almost 50 minutes and taking the

48:39

time to join us today and to ask question may you stay healthy and happy

48:45

and creative during the unprecedented time thank you so much take care everyone bye

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