Download: Organize a Vision Board Party today! Create Your Way to Wellness in 2011!
Creating Your Way to Wellness is a directed, expressive writing and arts workshop based on the growing fields of expressive writing, Transformational Language Arts (TLA), and principles of art therapy. The six-week workshop provides a safe environment for individuals of all ages to express through writing and art their experiences with stress, trauma, emotional upheavals, illness, chronic pain, grief, depression, cancer, or end-of-life issues. Designed to help create balance by providing specific exercises that illuminate both the good and challenging aspects of stressful, painful, or scary experiences, the workshop is an exceptional forum for observing, exploring, transforming, and releasing the emotions associated with daily living.
Expressive writing is a simple technique that can be used by anyone, irregardless of their background or experience. It's a noninvasive but therapeutic way to illuminate "life lessons;" it mitigates the impact and brings both perspective and life back in to balance.
The origins of expressive writing
The concept of expressive writing as a support in the process of healing was pioneered in the 1980s by James Pennebaker, Ph.D., a researcher and professor at the University of Texas. Through extensive and controlled research, Dr. Pennebaker found that expressive writing helps participants make sense of their experiences and arrive at a deeper understanding of the self. The combination of the creative process with the achievement of something tangible (writing) increases feelings of self-confidence, self-value, and even enhances the immune system. In addition, his research found, that providing people with an opportunity to write about any emotional upheavals led to improved physical and emotional well-being.
Writing for Wellness
The Creating Your Way to Wellness Workshop also is based on the work of Julie Davey, a former journalism professor, breast cancer survivor, and author of the book, Writing for Wellness. Ms. Davey established the Writing for Wellness Program at City of Hope in 2001 as a way to repay her debt of gratitude to the doctors and staff at City of Hope, and to help other patients experience the benefits she experienced while writing about two bouts with breast cancer.
Workshop Structure
The workshop meets one time per week for six weeks for two-hours. There is no critique of the written or visual work, and participants have the option to share what they've created or written. In addition to the workshop fee, a nominal fee is charged per participant to cover expenses for workshop materials and art supplies.
Other Available Workshops:
- Write to Heal
- Finding Meaning through Story
- Writing for Wellness
