Creative Journaling
Immerse yourself in creativity
Creative Journaling can support you to experience many different aspects of self and support coming to wholeness.
- Create your own hand bound journal
- Develop a deeper connection with your creative self
- Feel more empowered, seen + witnessed
- Build self-acceptance + confidence
- Access new tools for problem solving
- Increase your energy for life
Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, Australia
Creative Art Journaling is one of the most powerful tools I know to gain insight, solve problems and explore new ideas without the pressure to make it look good or make sense to others.
Explore new tools for your wellbeing, guided journey through creativity. I create weekly connections, develop a safe environment and provide a space for honesty, vulnerability and connecting with one another deeply.
This unique group is limited to 8 places, so get in quick. The possibilities for learning, expression, and movement in your life are endless. If you have never tried art therapy, give it a go. No artistic talent required, dare to discover something new.
Accessibility
The Abbotsford Convent Building and the Art Therapy Studio are user friendly to those with a disability and level 1 is accessible via elevator in the East Wing of the main convent building near Cam’s Cafe. There are disabled parking bays on St Heliers St and toilet facilities that cater for disability and wheelchair access. You can read more about accessibility here. Please contact us directly to discuss any additional needs you may have and we will do our best to cater to your individual needs.
Bookings
No workshops currently scheduled. Please contact us for more details. If you would like to book a private workshop for your organisation, celebration, hens night, birthday or event, please get in touch.
Over five weeks
Creative emergence
Week One – Creating your Journal & Creating Space
What do you need more of? What inside you, is calling you to be present? In the first week you will learn how to make a hand bound fabric hard cover journal. This journal will become your companion, and will be infused with your creative essence as you sew it together with your focus and what you are choosing to create space for. We will meet one another and create our safe container for exploration.
Week Two – Trust, Safety, Intention and Resistance
We will use this week to explore our relationship to trust, to create a safe space to explore and then to inquire into what you would like to create more of in your life. Would you like more freedom? Energy? Space? Joy? Self confidence? Creative expression? In what ways would you like to show up in your life? In week two we will use the abundant array of creative mediums to explore trust, safety and intention, and meet our resistance and invite it along for the ride.
Week Three – The Power of vulnerability, tenderness, and self love.
In week three we will explore power of vulnerability, of being seen in safe ways, and of going inwards. Vulnerability invites us to connect to the depths, to reconnect with our inner being, to embrace our humanness, and therefore connect more deeply to ourselves and those closest to us. If we can become more comfortable with our humanness, find acceptance for self, then we can be more ease-fully ourselves in the world.
Week Four – Vision and Play
What have you come to know now that you may not have known before? Creating space for play and clear vision can support us to take the next steps. How can we be in the process of play without trying to figure it out, know what is going to come from it, but just play for the sake of play? What have you noticed about yourself in this process? Who are you in the world when you let go of trying and just play? As we enhance our connection to our innate goodness, we strengthen our confidence and self esteem to explore the uncomfortable places of growth and challenge. When we play, we can discover new ways of seeing and being.
Week Five – Integration – Celebrating Self, Love
This will be a week of celebration and acknowledgement and connecting to your heart. We have all witnessed you in all different ways throughout the course. We have seen you. And it has been a gift. We want to share that back with you. This final session is a chance to acknowledge and celebrate what you have seen in one another, to fill up each others cups and share how you have been impacted by the courage and wisdom of the group. Our willingness to step forward and be real gives permission for others to do the same. What a world we can create for ourselves and those around us. I celebrate you. I acknowledge you. I see you.
Meet the Facilitator
Amanda Scott
Amanda Scott is a Melbourne based Creative Arts Therapist, Facilitator and Youth Worker. With 14+ years facilitation experience, Amanda is passionate about creativity for wellbeing, self-discovery & connection, focusing on transforming challenge into awakening.
Amanda offers tailored one on one sessions and themed workshops, such as creative journaling and Vision Boards, at Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne.
Amanda practices from a strengths based empowerment model, that by exploring yourself, your values and symbols, you can connect with your own intuition and inner knowing, fulfil your potential, find hope for the future and live a meaningful life.
FAQ
1. I can’t draw and I’m no good at art. Can I still come to this workshop?
Yes of course you can! You don’t need any artistic talent or experience for art therapy.
The creative process is just that- a process. Art therapy intends to allow the creative process to be the focus of art making.
By taking away the need to produce “art”, the pressure of making aesthetically pleasing works that will be judged dissipates.
By allowing the process to be the focus, your internal messages, insights and emotions feel safe to emerge. The often spoken about block to art making is the belief and fear that “I am not creative” or “I am not artistic” “I can’t draw” “I am bad at art”.
These collective and common beliefs can hinder the benefit of creativity. It is important to look at these beliefs and where they came from. They often come form a place of perfectionism, or judgement and of external expectations. If we can accept these judgements as present in the external world, and allow them to be there, then the power they have over us in our art making process is reduced. It is possible to let go of these all together, with the knowledge that this work you create is for you only.
It is for you to express your truth, and map your journey through this life. There is nothing wrong with you or needing improving. Every piece of art you create has its own voice, impact and expression, which are all valid!
If we can create from this place, we will be able to feel even more power from the healing of the creative process.
2. I want to come but I am resistant to doing things visually because I judge what I create.
Ahh this is a good one- resistance is an old friend of mine, and I have found that resistance is an important part of the creative process. Without resistance, there is no pressure, and with manageable pressure, transformation happens.
If you think about the caterpillar in the cocoon or a baby bird coming out of its hard shell, there is a great deal of resistance in the process to transforming into something new.
So I am learning that resistance is okay, and sometimes its the cocoon faze, and sometimes its time to take chances, even if you feel you aren’t ready!
3. I want to come but I don’t have the finances to come at the moment.
If this is something you are interested in, then we can set up a payment plan. If finances are the only thing holding you back then lets chat about how we can make it work.
4. What do I bring with me to the workshop?
All materials are provided, so you don’t need to bring anything at all! If you do notice images or words over the next few weeks that you are drawn to, feel free to bring them along, but it is not necessary.
We have plenty of varied materials to choose from!
Follow your curiosity