Our First Meeting

We had our first meeting of local Ottawa mental health practitioners using the arts in their practice. Marianna Shturman graciously provided the space for our meeting in her private practice location at the Catherine Street House. We had a chance to meet each other, share a bit about our experience and practice, draw out what we needed as support from this group, as well as discussing what we would like to accomplish in gathering together.

What people discussed at the meeting was:

Having regular monthly meetings for self-care and support, networking and sharing
Having a group to gain energy and give energy
Sharing our practice and running workshops (puppet making, medicine wheel teachings,playback music, drama, art)
Peer Supervision
Planning a public presentation/workshop for March for Creative Arts Therapies week to establish greater public awareness (Ottawa,Pembrooke)
Training opportunities (such as EMDR)
Local directory/brochure
Networking together to become more established in the mainstream healthcare system
Research on the creative arts therapies

For our next meeting, a proposal to have a puppet making workshop was suggested by Christine Novy and Diane Ranger offered her space "La Cellule Creative" http://www.lacellulecreative.com/, so more information will follow regarding that workshop.

Thanks for a great meeting! Until we meet again and share our creative energy!