Art for Cancer Wellness: Patients Group 2
Facilitator: Em Jones, BFA
Time: Wednesdays, 5:30 PM to 7 PM EST
Frequency: Alternating weeks, starting June 29
Register today!
In this biweekly six-week summer session facilitated by graduate art therapy student Em Jones, participants will be invited to creatively explore their thoughts, feelings, and current experiences through the practice of visual journaling. Using body-centered awareness and visual imagery exercises, group members will be guided through a process of accessing emotions, expressing them visually, and releasing this energy from being carried internally. This art therapy group series is designed to give form to one’s inner experience and helps to facilitate self-expression, improve emotional awareness, and reduce stress through creative action.
It is recommended that participants set up their journaling space in a relatively undisturbed location in a place that feels safe, protected, and peaceful. Soft music will be played in the background of the session to facilitate a deeper state of relaxation.
Week-by-Week Overview: Each workshop will be structured as follows:
- Check in with brief journal writing, feelings check and setting an intention, and a body-centered awareness exercise;
- Art-making in visual journal;
- Brief reflective journal writing using self-exploration questions;
- Discussion and sharing of experience in group; and
- Closing thoughts.
Week 1: Beginning Visual Journaling: How to Check in with Self
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus this week is to learn how to access and express what you feel through the process of visual journaling by tapping into your current experience. We will begin with introductions, review of consent, and allow for space to discuss group expectations and goals.
Week 2: Healing Stress
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus of this week is on mindfully accessing stressful feelings to discover the source of stress-producing emotions and explore the messages they are communicating.
Week 3: Drawing with a Story to Tell
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus of this week is on reconnecting with your inner self and listening to the important story it has to tell through visual imagery. You will be guided to become present in your body and to discover a message waiting to be expressed.
Week 4: Recognizing Fears and Releasing Emotion
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus of this week is on learning the lessons your fear has to teach you by exploring fears, questioning their validity and relevance, exploring their source, and asking what lessons it has to teach so that fear can become a stepping stone to a positive future. The art-making period will be based on selecting a fear that you feel prepared to work with today.
Week 5: Exploring and Resolving Inner Conflict
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus of this week is on investigating inner conflict and using imagery to give voice to your inner perspective.
Week 6: Landscape of Your Heart
Materials: Sketchbook and desired art materials (chalk or oil pastels, crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc).
The focus of this week is on connecting with the inner self for present and future guidance, using visual journaling skills acquired thus far to create a metaphoric self symbol.