Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier offers Sandtray Therapy Workshop

Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University,

Workshop

Sandtray Worldplay Therapy: Exploring the Possibilities

We are continuing to accept registrations for our 2-day introductory workshop; Sandtray Worldplay Therapy: Exploring the Possibilities, April 16 and 17.

This program will combine theory, experiential exercises and demonstrations with Dr. Gisela Schubach de Domenico, developer of the Sandtray/Worldplay method. She has taught this method in a variety of countries and a variety of contexts, working with adults as well as children in psychotherapy, play therapy and education.

For information contact:

Brenda Mann, Continuing Education
Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier

Email: bmann@wlu.ca

One Woman Show "Crazy" True Stories Based on Experiences With Anxiety and Depression

March 25, 2008
There were a few days between entries, almost two weeks in fact, having just returned from a "singing" vacation in Maui, Hawaii. It seems I am still not quite landed as I find myself still standing in my dreams at the summit of the volcano Haleakala.




Back in the real world there are other views and vistas to inspire as I am filled with optimism reading about the many new projects currently underway in arts and health.

New Drama by Gail Schwartz About Realities of Anxiety and Depression

We recently received a note from dramatist Gail Schwartz of Vermont:

"I'm really looking forward to spending time at the site (blog "Arts and Health Crossing Borders) I've already enjoyed my visits there and am amazed and encouraged by how much work is happening in this field. I am currently touring my solo show, "Crazy," based on my experiences as a person diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I'm currently collaborating with VSA Arts of Vermont who received a grant to tour my piece with a community panel discussion and creative arts workshop as part of an anti-stigma campaign. We are completely immersed in the work and it's been incredible."

Gail Schwartz Creator of the One Woman Show"Crazy"

I asked Gail about her process developing the one woman show "Crazy" and she told me she began work in 2001 as part of her graduate studies.

"The preliminary creating was done without any final project in mind; I was dealing with my own crises through my artwork, a process that was brand new to me at the time (a suggestion from an advisor). Only later, once out of the crisis, did I begin to envision putting some of the pieces and stories together to create the show that is now "Crazy."

"I decided that I would commit to seeing this project through to its maturity, as long as it took to ripen and blossom. It is now 2008 and it is in its 30th draft. I feel the script is finished and I am starting to tour the piece on a larger scale. Through working on the stories, transforming my own struggles into art, as well as through sharing them as an activist and learning more about alternative ways of relating to my pain, I've found new ways of being that promote a positive sense of myself and encourage staying connected, both to myself and to the larger society and world. My current tour, a statewide tour of Vermont communities, produced by VSA Arts of Vermont and funded by the Vermont Community Foundation, is a manifestation of my transformation. "

"I am no longer out in the world doing my work alone; rather, I'm working in community, in collaboration with a team. What an amazingly wonderful change!"

Find out more about Gail Schwartz and her work in drama and health at: Third Story Window

Visit us again for more news updates at "Arts and Health Crossing Borders" with more posts to come about the arts in health, training and education.

Cheryl McLean

Arts, Mental Health and Autonomy

"Socialized fences, isolating human beings behind "us" and "them" notions, confining individuals behind ideas such as "the elderly" can be cleared in the act of learning as one becomes the other fully animated and performing the "stories" of life. A performance can raise awareness educating well beyond the podium conveying "lived experience" in action with elements visual, emotional, physical and spiritual. In this field process we are told and we tell stories engaging in one of the most primal, meaningful and universal of human connections."

C. McLean

Click here for more information about the performance "Remember Me for Birds"

Tonight February 20 on the night of the lunar eclipse as the moon passes through the shadow of the earth I would like to share with you a moving and illuminating slide show "From Autism to Artism" created by Australian artist, author, singer, songwriter Donna Williams.

"From Autism to Artism"

Front row seats at Youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ekW3IfEMf9w

Medicine and Classics Sponsored by Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario

Medicine and Classics

Ancient History for the Medically Minded

Four Wednesdays, March 5, 12, 19, 26, 2008

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Martha Bishop Room, Landon Library, London, Ontario

Free Admission

Sponsored by the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and

The Department of Classical Studies

The University of Western Ontario and the Landon Branch of the London Public Library

The public will have an opportunity to discuss selected aspects of ancient Greek culture with both a Classics Professor and a Professor from medicine.

March 5

The Great Plague of Athens and Pandemic Planning

March 12

Let the Games Begin: Training for the Ancient Olympics

March 19

Images of Mental Illness

March 26

Wandering Wombs and Prometheus' Immortal Liver:

Ancient Greek Views on Anatomy and Physiology

For more information:

see Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry

http://www.schulich.uwo.ca/medicine&classics

Events and Conferences 2008 New Websites

A few reminders about upcoming events and conferences and a couple of interesting websites for you on this Tuesday morning February 19th.


Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 31 to June 8


Fourth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, May 14 - 17


Robert Neimeyer Death Loss and the Quest for Meaning, February 28


Hand Held Digital Technology and New Media, March 20

If you haven't already registered for Congress 08 in Vancouver I highly recommend you plan on attending. This is the largest conference of its kind in the country. It's a unique multi-disciplinary event that brings together over eighty national societies and associations and an estimated 8,000 participants from across Canada and internationally. I've always enjoyed my experiences at the congress as well as opportunities to sit in on presentations related to my own interests in arts informed research, narrative, drama and life history research. A great networking opportunity to connect with others with like interests.

At The Fourth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry this year at The University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign there will be a very interesting line up of presentations, among them, Autoethnography and Performance Studies, Justice as Healing, Participatory Action Research, Visual Sociology, Visual Ethnography and...a special presentation by Dr. Norman K. Denzin on Performance Ethnography.

And new websites, check out Manifestation: Journal of Community Engaged Research and Learning Partnerships. It's an open-access, electronic, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to conversations about how to most beneficially support and engage in community-based research, community-campus partnerships, service-learning, action research, and other inclusive methods and practices that build and empower our communities. Peter Levesque of Knowledge Mobilization Works is founder and editor of this progressive new open access journal as well as the Publisher of Mental Health Poetry

And, finally, if you didn't catch it on air, you can access podcasts from the the CBC radio show "White Coat Black Art" with host Dr. Brian Goldman who takes listeners through the swinging doors of Canadian hospitals and doctors' offices for direct, issue oriented and honest talk about healthcare. Tune in to the podcast with Dr. Cunningham . In this interview he tells his story speaking with openness and conviction about physicians , "the God complex", alcoholism and his own personal spirituality. "White Coat, Black Art" airs Monday's at 1130 am and Friday's at 8 pm on Radio One and is also broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Monday's on Sirius Satellite 137, and podcast every week.

All the best for February, the journey continues,

Cheryl McLean.

Smoking and Health Promotion, Creative Methodologies Lead to Deeper Understandings

The creative arts can be used effectively in research and in awareness raising in health promotion work. The University of British Columbia, School of Nursing, shares with us today news about "Creative Methodologies in Tobacco and Health Behaviour Research: Using Photography and Theatre to Foster Deeper Understandings"


A message below from Ariadna Fernandez, MA Research Manager, NEXUS, University of British Columbia, School of Nursing:

Creative methodologies - such as participant photography (photovoice) and participatory theatre (forum theatre) - allow researchers to be more inclusive of participant "voices" to explore and translate knowledge about certain health behaviours.

Hear what researchers and participants have to say about these methodologies. View the images created by participants about their smoking experiences and participate in a mini-forum theatre production.

Tobacco use is a particularly sensitive and personal topic which requires creative approaches to foster deeper understandings. This panel discussion, photo exhibit & forum theatre production will explore the challenges and benefits of using photovoice and forum theatre in three research projects: "Smoke, In My Eyes," "Families Controlling & Eliminating Tobacco" (FACET 2), and "Cultivating Awareness of the Context of Tobacco Use" (CACTUS).

Date: Wednesday, March 12th

Time: 5:00 to 7:00 PM

Location: UBC Robson Square

800 Robson Street Vancouver, B.C.

RSVP by March 8th: nexus@nursing.ubc.ca For directions: http://www.robsonsquare.ubc.ca/