Touch Drawing Workshop Facilitation

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Comment by Claujuh on March 18, 2009 at 9:00am

hi deborah...i'm here! i have arrived! i have re-joined the new facilitator's group as per your message! yeeee haaaaaa! thank you deborah, Namaste.

Claujuh

Comment by Deborah Catton on March 11, 2009 at 5:32pm

I have just joined this group and I am interested in hearing about other facilitators experiences with this process for ideas,assurance,support and on going connecting.

I would like to share my experience with Facilitating Touch Drawing.

I am a Master Herbalist in clinical practice and have been so for 10 years now.
I also have a strong connection with Art and in fact studied Art as my first interest at the university level some 20 years ago.
In the past year I have finally found a way to bridge my work with individuals in my Herbalist practice and my experience with Art as a means to facilitate the healing journey of my clients.
My clients come to see me for assistance in dealing with symptoms they are experiencing ,and are looking for natural, non prescriptive, non invasive ways of treating these. In my practice I treat the individual, vs one standard treatment program applicable to all, and this is based on several factors pertaining to them as that individual.
I will of course use certain herbals to encourage the body to heal but what always becomes apparent to my clients is that healing involves so much more than simply taking a tincture or remedy. We may deal with the symptoms temporarily but if there is not an honest look at the emotional side of these symptoms, they may go in circles over time finding themselves in the same place over and over.
It has been through the introduction of Touch Drawing Sessions which I have begun with my clients who are ready to go deeper with their healing that I have very delightfully experienced some profound moments in peoples health that has become lasting and truly healing for them.
I chose to use the touch drawing process for several reasons... First it requires that my client can show up just as they are, they need nothing to bring except themselves. Second it really is not a messy process which can create some angst for those concerned about this. Third, it does not require the participant to have skill with materials...they don't even need to hold an art tool in their hand
and be concerned about if they are doing that correctly. It is a very approachable art process which is the reason it can be used with so many different ages and abilities.
In addition to my Herbalist practice, I now offer 90 min one on one sessions for these clients. It is a very intimate experience for most of them as they discover aspects about themselves through their drawings and subsequently with the homework that I give them to continue with. Depending on their need and or what they are working on determines the frequency that we meet. As an example, I have been meeting weekly with clients who find themselves in a depression and need a more frequent and direct way to touch into themselves with my support to guide them. With other clients who need more time to process or need less frequent guidance, we will meet every other week or once a month.
I can tell you this, I have witnessed some of the most profound changes in those souls that are really committed to their healing journey. Some of these have been clients of mine for years and have struggled with a means to really find a way into the depths of themselves to create a lasting change in their physical body. This process has really opened them up and this can also affect how the herbals that I use with them have the ability to be much more effective.
It has truly been delightful for me to be witness to this.
I am working on ways to expand upon this process with offering a workshop idea with small groups from my client base for those who ready for this type of deep inner processing.
Looking forward to hearing from more of you that are out there about your experiences facilitating or the many ways that you have found to incorporate touch drawing into others lives.
Deborah Catton

Comment by Marion Prochnau on February 16, 2009 at 8:12pm

Hi Deborah,

Thank YOU for sharing your new beautiful 'tree of life' image!

I recently facilitated several Life~ Work Balance Workshops for participants ages 50-64+ in a government funded 6 week employability program called 'Experience Works', in Sechelt, BC. At this point in the program, the participants had been together for 4 weeks now; so I gave each a photocopy of your beautiful image and asked them to choose a person's name from my hat, visualize that person and their qualities, and then print that person's name large onto the tree image, followed by specific character traits/values/attributes/talents, etc. of that person represented by each letter in their name. ie. - Marion ~ M - motivator, A - aware, R - resilient, I - inspiring, O - open, N - nature-lover.... I encouraged them to use lots of colors with felts, pens, crayons, etc. for the individual lettering and coloring the rest of the image as they 'felt' that person's energy. When they were complete, I asked each of them in turn to introduce their chosen person by name ( this is....) and then followed by their attributes (and you are...). This was a most moving experience for ALL concerned, including me as the facilitator... kleenex was required.

Feedback - everyone 'glowed' after giving and receiving their deeply felt self-expressive introductions of each other! This activity could also be used during weekend TD Workshops where participants get to know each other at a deeper level and can create a real bonding experience.


Thank you again for your 'inspiring image'! ~
Marion Prochnau, Employment Coach, Workplace Wellness, Life-Work Balance, Expressive Arts Facilitator.

Comment by Kate Ziff on January 6, 2009 at 10:44am

Kathleen, your description of your teaching and facilitation is helpful. I've been extended an invitation to offer Touch Drawing at a three week Health and Wellness symposium at Hocking College in SE Ohio and am working to figure out a plan.

Comment by Deborah Koff-Chapin on August 6, 2008 at 3:23pm

It would be great if, as you join this group, you considet starting a discussion topic in the forum. this way, conversation subjects can be well orgnaized and continued over a long time period. See 'discussion forum' above. Deborah

Comment by Kathleen Horne on August 6, 2008 at 12:42pm

Hi all....
I think it would be so helpful if we could learn from each other something about our settings, populations, fee scales, workshop formats, etc.

I am in Sarasota, FL in the winter and Cortes Island, BC from May to September. In Sarasota I teach Touch Drawing with Victoria Domenichello-Anderson at Ringling College of Art and Design, in the Art and Healing certificate program that we created together. A 7.5 hour "Introduction to Touch Drawing" course is required as part of this certificate. A "Touch Drawing 2" is an elective. In Intro to Touch Drawing, we teach it as 3 sessions, or one weekend. We do one in-depth TD experience, followed by a combination of artistic development (mounting, painting, etc) and expressive arts processing (writing, story, movement, sound, etc). We touch on the applications of TD. In Touch Drawing 2 we do another in-depth drawing session, and introduce Inner (partner) portraits and more applications of TD.

In addition, we teach Touch Drawing every 2 weeks at Expressive ARts Florida, our business (myself, Victoria, Tamara knapp and Elizabeth Bornstein). We charge $30 for a 1.5 hour session, and that includes supplies.

On Cortes island, I have done several demos, and one 2 hour workshop. I have another workshop scheduled for later this month. In doing the demos, it is always a struggle to get people to get a sense of the process, rather than "simply" the technique.

I love touch drawing; it is one of my own most preferred art forms
I love to do it, teach it, and learn more about it!
looking forward to hearing more from all of you!
Kathleen

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