With Dr Carla van Laar AThR Feature image credit Carla van Laar In this article I introduce the links between creative practices, mindful approaches, and traditional healing practices. I then invite you to use the process of drawing your breath … Read More
Author Archives: Carla
Supervision Studio 2021 – BOOK YOUR DATES NOW
Supervision Studio $150 – 2.5 hours ONLINE Supervision Studio Sundays 10.00am – 12.30pm Art based and experiential methods for reflective practice Small groups in an online studio environment This is the supervision you have been dreaming of – attend from … Read More
Creative Arts Therapy and the NDIS – new training offers from Dr Alisoun Neville
I want to work with NDIS Participants For therapeutic practitioners considering registration Friday 4 June, 1pm – 4pm ($150; 4 hours CPD) Cost: $150 … Have you been thinking about registering for NDIS but not sure where to begin? Are you confused … Read More
Creative Self Care: Coming to our Senses Part 1 – relaxation
With Dr Carla van Laar AThR Feature image credit: Carla van Laar In this series of articles, I invite you to embark on a creative journey of self care. I include gentle experiential and arts based processes and activities that … Read More
‘The Artist’ or ‘The Critic’ – the Judged or the Judge; why we need more roles in our repertoire when it comes to art.
Dr Carla van Laar AThR most of us have been socialised from a very early age to develop only two roles in our repertoire when it comes to art – “The Artist” or “The Critic”… The result can be that … Read More
Healing the core wound through the arts – with Jemima Beaumont-Robberds AThR
Imagine… what would it feel like if you could accept more of yourself and live life with greater ease and confidence? Do you struggle to with low self-worth, lack of confidence or showing up authentically? Is it difficult for you … Read More
Arts Therapists Recognised by Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System
Our voices are part of a chorus who want greater choice for people in managing their own mental health care, and greater inclusion for Arts Therapists as highly skilled and valued members of Victoria’s Mental Health Workforce. Tuesday the 2nd … Read More
Here’s the Evidence: Employing Arts Therapists in Schools is Good for Student Mental Health.
Prepared by Dr Carla van Laar and Dr Lisa Mosely for the ACTivate Arts Therapy Campaign Evidence for the efficacy of Arts Therapy in mental health and wellbeing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the effectiveness of the arts … Read More
Jane Burns: “Looking at our Practice through the Lens of Sustainability”
“creative expression intersects with environmental and social issues, climate activism and wellbeing in nature” Jane Burns The 2021 Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat is delighted to welcome award winning Environmental and Sustainability Educator Jane Burns as a … Read More
PROGRAM: 2021 Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat
14th – 17th May 2021 We pay our deep respects to the First Peoples of Boon Wurrung Country where we will meet. Inverloch RACV Resort, 70 Cape Patterson Inverloch Rd, Inverloch, Victoria. … Our Commitment to Sustainability We are mindful … Read More
Dr Alisoun Neville: “Look again” – how can we see in new ways, with our words?
“I remember standing on a street corner with the black painter Beauford Delaney down in the Village waiting for the light to change, and he pointed down and said, “Look.” I looked and all I saw was the water. And … Read More
Natalie Poole: Ebb and Flow- the rhythms of activation and settling
Natalie Poole is a midwife of the dance floor. Sometimes you need a little help to birth your vital, expressive, and creative self. Natalie Poole, sometimes known as “Twirling Wolf”, is a seemingly bottomless well of energy for dance, dance … Read More
Michelle Smith RN – “Warriors and Peace Makers”: Cultural Identities, Connections, Strength and Resilience.
“Healing is grounded in our cultural identities and connections and builds on our strengths and resilience” Michelle Smith RN Michelle is a true community worker. For over 30 years she has worked consistently in Aboriginal programs through the arts and … Read More
Join Jiancong (Eric) Zhang in “Unfolding Art Therapy”
As an artist, Eric fell in love with paper folding (origami) as a form of artistic reflection. Influenced by his earliest experiences of learning origami from his mother, the medium is closely connected to this mother-child relationship. He believes that … Read More
Emma van Daal (nee Hodges) – Contemplating the radical potential of the therapeutic space.
“The individual is…not prior to their environment but codetermined with it, constituted within and through the patterned interaction of affects and movements and changes of bodies in relationships” Duschinsky et al., 2015 Emma van Daal joins us as a presenter … Read More
Svetlana Bykovec: Nature and Replenishing the “Well”
“How does your relationship to Earth inform your creative/professional work?” Svetlana Bykovec Svetlana Bykovec AThR joins us as a facilitator at the 2021 Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat. She shares: “I am lead Art Therapist for Creative … Read More
Trish Thompson: The Co-Creative Process of Writing Together – Shining a Light on the Relationship between Client and Therapist
“Practice wisdom points to the relationship between the therapist and client as the main driver of change, but we don’t often hear the voice of the client and their experience of the therapeutic relationship” Trish Thompson Esteemed psychotherapist Trish Thompson … Read More
Chris Petrie AThR brings you UPBEAT BUCKET DRUMMING
“Therapeutic value is gained when people gather to share creative experiences. When people are witnessed, encouraged and feel open to be themselves, they feel the upbeat benefits of therapeutic group drumming”. Chris Petrie What do you get when you mix … Read More
Professor Dan Harris: Creative Mental Health Special Guest Presenter
The Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat is honoured to welcome Professor Dan Harris as a Special Guest Presenter. In December 2020, Dan posted this ground breaking news: “So today I got promoted to full professor. I’m my … Read More
Dr. Amanda Musicka-Williams: “Imitate, Innovate, Become” How Dramatherapy supports positive self- image and communal belonging
“Imitate, Innovate, Become“ Dr Amanda Musicka-Williams brings her expertise in drama and well-being to the Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat in the “Imitate, Innovate, Become” workshop. In this workshop participants will experience the role method of dramatherapy … Read More
Tara Harriden AThR: Culturally Sensitive Practice – Art Based Supervision with Support Workers in Remote Indigenous Communities, a PhD Research Project.
“I believe in the power of research as a social change-maker – I hope that my research will affect some change in the lives of Remote Area Aboriginal people living with psychosocial disabilities as well as on health/social policy” Tara Harriden … Read More
Melissa Nelson-Campbell’s lived experience as a woman of colour propelled her to make meaning through working human rights. Now, she empowers multicultural school communities through the transformative potentials of art making.
“As a woman of colour, artist, and art therapist, I am driven to support people from diverse backgrounds yearning to find their voice and be heard.” Melissa Nelson-Campbell Melissa Nelson-Campbell, owner and founder of Draw Inspiration is open about her life … Read More
Dr Carla van Laar. “Standing Strong in our Professional Identity” – Art based and collaborative approaches in individual planning and responding as humanising alternatives to assessments and interventions.
In our recent article, The Balancing Act: Performing Stories of our Practice within Systems of the State, Dr Alisoun Neville and I wrote: “We invite arts therapists to reflect on the values performed by the documents we produce, and to … Read More
Anjali Sengupta – Allow your own Unique Medicine to Emerge through Dance.
Move and be moved in these two dance for wellness workshops with experienced dance/movement therapist and Bollywood for well-being guru, the ever inspiring Anjali Sengupta. … Embodied Self Care- Medicine Drum & Dance “This session is about giving yourself your … Read More
New Publication “The Balancing Act” – Co-authored by Dr Alisoun Neville and Dr Carla van Laar
Feature Image: “Looking up”, Carla van Laar. Congratulations to the Editors, designer and contributors of the first edition of our new Australian publication, the “Journal of Creative Arts Therapies” – JoCAT. Alisoun Neville and I have coauthored an article for … Read More
Supervision with Carla in 2021
Just a quick update to let you know what’s happening with Supervision this year… Some things change, some stay the same… What’s the same? Supervision Studio continues ONLINE on Sundays 10am – 12.30pm. 2.5 hours of small group and arts … Read More
Michelle Morgan: Spirituality and Mental Health
What offers us hope, or helps us to make meaning? What values guide us, particularly in times of challenge? What are our anchors and roots in the shadowy depths and wild turbulence, and what paths do we take to access … Read More
Creative Mental Health Forum and Self Care Retreat – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
We pay our deep respects to the First Peoples of Boon Wurrung Country where we will meet. CREATIVE MENTAL HEALTH FORUM AND SELF CARE RETREAT Friday 14th – Monday 17th May 2021 Inverloch RACV Resort, Bass Coast, Victoria Your host, … Read More
Lee Agius “The Artful Warrior”: Yoga for Self Care at the 2021 Creative Mental Health Forum and Retreat in Inverloch
“incorporate slow mindful movement with your breath that sends a message back to your body which completely supports your nervous system to relax…” … Read More
Bronwyn Roberts: Chief Happiness Officer – “Let’s Laugh”!
This joyful and fun practice has some serious benefits – “stimulate the immune system, boost circulation, lower stress, reduce pain, increase creativity, productivity and motivation, and have a positive impact on mental health” Bronwyn Roberts Bronwyn Roberts joins the 2021 … Read More