
Healthcare Worker Creative Arts Telehealth
Take a 90 min. Creative Retreat from Home.
12-Week Launch Price for Healthcare Worker Creative Arts Telehealth
Jan. 15 - April 2 (Good Friday) Pay What You Want
This offer is only available on Eventbrite.
April 16, 2021 all tickets will be sold on Positive Shift's Website
Creative Arts Telehealth
This is a complementary health service kids and people living with or caring for someone or people whose lives are affected by Illness and Disability. I am the founder, Wesdyne Otto. I have a chronic illness and a disability. While completing my art therapy diploma, students would tell me that my disability and illness were due to "childhood trauma" and "unhealthy coping skills". Neither of which is helpful or uplifting. The message was if you change and adapt enough you can pass a normal one day. My brain is not "normal" or "typical". I created an accessible health service for people living disability and caregivers to explore the range of positive emotions through the arts. Being in touch with our positive emotions gives us the freedom to enjoy our life more.
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Where Creative Arts Healthcare is Used
Major Canadian hospitals offer Art Programs run by volunteers, like the Artists on the Ward programs at the UofA Hospital. Professional clown, art, and music therapists help kids at Toronto's SickKids Hospital. The Royal Conservatory's Art Rehab program works with 6 Ontario hospitals to include music as part of the patient's care plan. Dr. Lisa Meschino says, "For those patients receiving this arts intervention in addition to their rehabilitation activities, we expect to see a difference in the following primary measures: an increase in patients’ sense of hope, optimism and future purpose; an increase in patients’ engagement in their rehabilitation; and a decrease in their hospital length of stay". These programs demonstrate that Creative Arts provides health benefits.
Creative Arts and Art Therapy was used in England to help shell-shock soldiers. Creative Forces, a partnership with the US Military and the National Endowment for the Arts say, "We have seen how creative arts therapies have helped service members deal with trauma as part of an integrated care model. And when they return home, these interventions make a difference in people’s lives that medicine alone could not achieve". Living with a chronic illness and disability can be a battle. About 12-25% of people diagnosed with a chronic illness experience PTSD compared to 11-20% of Military veterans. PTSD makes healing and recovery more difficult.
THE GOOD NEWS: POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH "Medical trauma, like other trauma, can be a catalyst for significant growth and discovered meaning. Posttraumatic Growth is a process that helps people new meaning and the realization of health and well being beyond their pre-trauma existence.
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Things Creative Arts Telehealth Makes Better
We use art, dance, music, and poetry to disrupt unhelpful emotional patterns, like worrying, racing thoughts, doubt with positive feelings. Mastery, Peace, Joy, Acceptance
Exploring positive feelings through the arts helps balance negative and positive emotions making daily life more enjoyable and easier. Pull back the curtains, open the window to let the delight in.
1) Foster Posttraumatic Growth - Some people, following a traumatic or a series of stressors in addition to typical stress disorder symptoms also positive growth in a few of 5 areas. Greater sense of self strength, appreciation of life, closer relationships, spiritual evolution, and new possibilities.
2) Temporary lowering of the frequency and intensity of pain, tremors, anxious thoughts, nervousness, and slugginess.
3) Nurture the bond between Parent and Child of any age. Enrich the connection between Spouses/Partners.
4) Balancing the shadows of life with the lightness of laughter, joy, and competency.
5) Have Fun!
Click to link to Registration for Healthcare Worker CATS opens Jan. 15, 2021


Creative Arts Telehealth - Our Focus
Laughter through tears is my favourite emotion. Steel Magnolias
Life events can feel dark, lonely, and frightening. Other aspects of life are light, joyful, and freeing. We try control how much energy we spend in the shadows. Other times, the darkest night of the soul appears out of nowhere collapsing our spirit, or making our minds race at night.
Fear, Anger, Panic can feel more intense, bigger than our feelings of Bravery, Compassion, and Calm. We dismiss our enjoyable feelings as silly or 'a bit of fun'. The silly, absurd, and downright goofy balance the unpleasant and even miserable situations.
We practice playing. Letting our mind enjoy colours, moving to music, and being appreciated. Play turns down the mental and physical background noise. Play, enjoyment flood our emotional system and we find ourselves in deLight.
This Link takes you to more information on Healthcare Worker Creative Arts Telehealth.
This Links to Registration for Healthcare Worker Creative Arts Telehealth.
All our sessions are small groups of individuals or pairs who log in from 8 different locations.
2 Colours Dancing Together: A Sample Creative Arts Telehealth Session
All our sessions are small groups of individuals or pairs who log in from 8 different locations.
Supplies: Paper, 2 colours of liquid tempera or acrylic paint, paint brushes, notebook
Chose two colours plus either white or black. Using as many paint brushes or your fingers - please start with the brushes, dip your paint brush in a colour and make some random marks on the page. Clean your brush and do the same thing with the other colour. Look at how the two colours 'talk' to each other. Keep this in mind as you make your next choices. Keep doing this for the next 15-20 min. until you have completed a work of art.
Reflecting on your art work write down what you noticed as you made the artwork.
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Wesdyne Otto's painting process (video) and reflection on making the artwork.
I noticed a need to make whole what was first expressed in bits and cautious marks as the paint found its way across the page. Limiting my colours to blue, red and white provides a safe playground to explore what those three colours can do together. Each colour inviting the other to shyly say hello, dance, and merge together as a single voice creating something new –purple. I watched as they stood near each other like 2 peacocks. White and washes echo the quietness of painting, expanding the breathing space.
I'm ready to Register for Healthcare Worker Creative Arts Telehealth
2 Colours Dancing Together
Who we are
Click on our photos to read more and hear Wesdyne's podcast interview on Art Therapy. Pink Text takes you to the About Us page
Blogs

The Value of Intergenerational Creative Arts →
The Value of Intergenerational Creative Arts At Positive Shift, we encourage participants to do the program from home with a friend, partner, or older child. A child in upper...

Gratitude Diving →
. Wesdyne Otto Nov. 2020 Yesterday, something strange, stressful and very unusual happened that knocked me for a loop. Knowing that I have work to do and knowing that life...
Positive Shift Creative Arts Services Ltd.
Edmonton and Spring Lake, AB
Text or Call 780-271-0675 (return within 4 hours)
email Wesdyne at contact@positive-shift.com with any questions
Blog

Living With Your Dragon →
A short video and story for children living with mood, physical, or learning disorders, aka dragons. The story says that our dragons are part of who we are. We are...