Overview

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in escalating stresses in many areas of life. Some of these stresses include changes in employment, education, housing inequity, increases in substance and other addictions and various mental health/addictions concerns, as well as a rising deterioration in general wellness and well-being - including environmental degradation, climate change and species extinction.

This experiential program will introduce resilience practices such as expressive writing and arts-based practices. You will connect with your creativity, resulting in the experience of arising kindness, compassion for self and others, equanimity and peace.

This program will provide some solid tools to support the establishment of your "centre" and the ability to engage productively with your life. This is not a magic solution or a panacea - but a "starting point" for building a base of safety by creating an internal sanctuary and our home base.

This two-day program will introduce participants to a strengths-based approach to building an internal sense of safety and self-efficacy. Having a sense of our own secure base is foundational to navigating our lives and the challenges faced in the world.

Learning Objectives

Throughout this program you will:

1. learn guidelines for co-creating a trauma-sensitive and psychologically safer learning environment.
2. increase self-agency by enhancing distress tolerance capacity and to skillfully respond to all thoughts, feelings, and sensations and to distinguish between these qualities.
3. distinguish between "thinking" and the "felt-sense of sensation" - sensing the flow of breath and the radiant sense of energy in the body.
4. experience the imaginal environment via guided imagery to create an internal sense of safety and an enhanced self-efficacy by creating an inner sanctuary that can be accessed at any time as a way to ground and center one's self.

Workshops

What to Bring?

• Enthusiasm and curiosity to explore the edges and extend your self-mastery
• Journal and a variety of gel pens and colored pencils
• Yoga mat and blanket

Participatory Caution

The facilitators will work towards co-creating a collaborative and psychologically safe, inclusive, and welcoming learning environment. However, due to the experiential nature of the session, the program may be potentially evocative for some individuals who have experienced trauma (especially hyper-arousal and dissociation) and who have significant challenges in managing anxiety. These experiences are not necessarily contraindications for participation; however, self-screening is important. Participation should be discussed with one's therapist, if one is currently in psychotherapy.

 

Program Contacts

Annie Kirkham
Program Assistant
Annie.Kirkham@senecapolytechnic.ca
416-764-0985

Yasmeen Syed
Academic Program Manager
Yasmeen.Syed@senecapolytechnic.ca
416-764-0965