Therapy
Personal Psychotherapy and Art Therapy classes.
Robyn runs small Art Therapy classes from her studio. These include an educational component about how your brain works. Exploring your personal creative expression is the focus of the art component. She also sees clients privately, with or without creative expression.
Understand your Brain,
through Creative Self-exploration
Robyn presents an Art Therapy class designed to help you learn about, and take control of, the way you think and feel. We will have fun playing with clay, collage and paint.
Classes will run for 9 weeks, with a break in the middle: Friday mornings from 10 am to 12 pm,or Wednesday evenings from 7 pm to 9 pm.
Location: Robyn’s studio, 236 Carrington St, Hilton.
Start dates are determined by numbers, with between 3 and 6 students in each class. So put your name on the waiting list. Each class is 2 hours long and a cuppa is provided.
Cost for each session is $50 for waged participants, and less for unemployed (please ask me). You can pay as you go, because of the uncertainty around Covid.
The tutor is ROBYN VARPINS, who has a Bachelor of Counselling from Notre Dame University, is a recognised Artist with a Diploma of Fine Art and has taught art for many years. She also provides private Counselling.
CREATIVE SELF-EXPLORATION
This is an Art Therapy class designed to help you understand how your brain works.
Therapy means to pay attention to the self: develop Self-Awareness. By doing this we learn who we are and why we feel, think and act the way we do. There are many different ways of looking at the brain, because it is so incredibly complicated. Many different maps have been developed to help make sense of it, each with their own validity and insight: Psychology; Philosophy; Buddhism; Meditation; Eastern medicine; Neuro-science; Biology; Sociology; Reiki; Kinesiology; Creativity; Personality typologies; Spirituality; Evolution and many more.
The more viewpoints you can learn, the more understanding you develop about the complexity of the human condition, and yourself. And once we understand how our brain works, we are able to take control and change the way its programing impacts us, to give us the peace and happiness we all need. We will be looking at the brain from at least 5 different points of view.
The role of art: Creativity may be the most pleasurable way of attending to and learning about the self, as it is an inherently nourishing and satisfying experience. Creating produces joy and relaxation, as well as strengthening our personal agency.
Art enables our unconscious brain to be understood, through the use of symbols. Art communicates our inner experience and moves us from our head to our heart. It puts us in a state of “Flow”, which is present, enlivened, and free of worry.
The artwork that is produced can be helpful in many ways: to enhance self-empowerment; express deep emotions; build internal integration; uncover unconscious issues; act as a bridge between subjective and objective reality; help develop mindfulness through focused attention; help clarify our life story, through storytelling; provoke pleasure by producing something novel and beautiful; create solid talismans and affirmations for emotional support…and more.
There will be a theme for each session to help us focus our creativity and learning. Each session will start with a short presentation and discussion of the learning material. We will then have fun creating things in a variety of mediums.
A: Brain States and Thinking Styles:
Session 1: Kinaesthetic, Auditory and Visual Languages
- The body/Brain connection
- Reading your body
- Create from each language in clay, words, and paint
Session 2: Brain Waves and Thinking States
- 3 States of Mind: Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious
- Discussion of Images
- Create a collage from your Sub and Unconscious state
Session 3: Symbolic Languages
- Kinaesthetic, Auditory and Visual
- Find your language profile
B: Emotion and Memory:
Session 4: Emotions and Negative Schemas
- The Virtual Reality Simulator
- Emotions and Feelings
- Reading your emotions using the ABC model
- Create emotions, with body language and facial expressions in collage, paint, or clay
Session 5: Compassion and Healing
- Healing through linking Memories
- Changing Memories
- The Negativity Bias
- Self-Compassion Visualisation
- Make a Healing Bowl for Sorrows with card and collage, or clay
Session 6: Re-Parenting the Self
- Attachment Theory
- Healing our Inner Child
- Parent/Adult/Child roles and Voice Dialogue work to meet your inner child
- Creating like a child, with paper or clay
C: Evolution and Our Animal Brain:
Session 7: Understanding your Brain’s Programming
- Cultural evolution
- The Ego and self-control
- Fear and Pain
- Make a clay representation of the brain and symbols
Session 8: The 3 Emotional Regulation Systems of the Brain
- Threat/Drive/Soothing systems
- Cultural aspects
- Doodling, with pencil and clay and collage
D: Symbols and Mindfulness:
Session 9: Meet your Wise Inner Guide
- Dreams and personal metaphors
- Storytelling and meaning-making
- Presence and Acceptance
- Create images from your story in clay or collage
These classes are designed by Robyn Varpins in 2022
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