GINA’S TOOLKIT

ART THERAPY

Art therapy teaches us to trust our instincts, the mystery that unfolds, the answers we have within ourselves, especially in difficult times.  Symbolic communication introduces considerable metaphorical possibilities that can help us deal with our inner problems in a non-threatening way. An image pulls together many levels of the psyche, better than any verbal explanation would.  Art, a language of metaphors, images, and symbols, appeals to the unconscious, and through it, reaches the heart. It becomes the bridge for deep communications. What is created authentically with any medium in art therapy touches the creator’s living truth. From art expression the individual is able to move the unseen to the seen. What is expressed in art is an important step to being expressed in life.

GRIEF RECOVERY

Grief is the normal and natural reaction to loss of any kind. It is also the most neglected and misunderstood experience, often by both the grievers and those around them.

Grief is defined as the “conflicting emotions that follow the ending or change in familiar patterns of behaviour.”

To be willing to grieve properly is to be willing to feel pain.  Avoiding pain will only compound it.

Grief waits on welcome, not time, to be appeased.

Sadness does not want to be healed; it wants to be held. In my experience as I bear witness to a griever’s deep sadness and hold space for it with them, they find that they can face and feel their sadness without drowning in it.

“The best way out is always through”
-Robert Frost

The word “emotion” comes from the Latin ēmovēre: ē = out, and movēre = move, motion; meaning “to move out”, “move the feeling”. When we allow emotions to freely move in us, through us, between us, they gradually change.

The Grief Recovery Method is an action plan. It is a series of small steps that when taken by the griever lead to the completion of all the unresolved feelings linked to the loss.

Grief Recovery Group (8 sessions)
One on One (7 sessions)
Helping Children with Loss (4 sessions)
Pet Loss (4 sessions)

SYSTEMIC
CONSTELLATIONS

A constellation opens different perspectives to a problem.

It affects all levels of our being by bringing the real issue to light and creatively exploring its underlying dynamics.

It invites a change in perceptions, develops a new understanding of where the issues come from, and reveals alternate solutions to resolve them.

WRITING WITH YOUR INNER LIGHT

(photography book workshop)

The word photography is a combination of the Greek words “phŏtós” meaning light, and “graphé” meaning writing. Photography is the art of writing with light.

With writing we tell stories.
With light we see clearer.
With the Photo Book we shed light on our stories.

Our mental maps and memories are generally not made up of words, but of imagery. Photography is a way to open the emotional conversation, to take it outside ourselves through the third person, through the image.

We all have stories to tell, narratives to change, inner ramblings to get out, metaphors waiting to work on us. In this workshop the symbolic information unfolds as the visual narrative of your book is constructed.

INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER

The subject of grief recovery is one I hold dear; it is a part of my mission to educate as many people as possible on this subject. Conferences give me a platform to do so. I have spoken to groups of doctors, psychologists, social workers, in schools, and on a TEDx stage. I adapt my talks to my audience.