Honouring Grief & Nurturing Hope Through Art
an 8-week art therapy journey for processing the state of the world
As we move through this time of polycrisis, where every day we bear witness to genocide, worsening climate crisis, and the continued oppression that is built into the white supremacist, colonial, capitalist, patriarchal systems we live within, many of us are struggling with the immense anxiety and grief living through what these times bring up.
These feelings are completely normal, yet our culture offers us very few healthy ways to process them and denies us embodied liberation.
I’m creating this safe space to do so together, while we also remember that there is so much to hope for, including the creation of new communities, restoration of land, and reconnection with ancestral knowledge.
Honouring Grief & Nurturing Hope Through Art is an 8-week therapeutic group that aims to utilize art making, creativity and somatics to support adults (18+) who are looking for support in navigating the depths of this grief, and want to make space for the hope that also exists.
“Art has a sacred role, a responsibility, to expose and confront dehumanizing, destructive, oppressive forces of our time.”
— Cliff Joseph
Let us be in community and remember that…
Grief and hope are not mutually exclusive.
We can grieve deeply and still envision a beautiful future.
We can grieve deeply and still act in revolutionary ways.
We are capable of holding both the grief AND hope for a better, brighter future.
Important Details
We will meet weekly on Zoom from 7-8:30pm EDT on Thursdays beginning July 10.
Limited to 12 participants, open to those located/based in Ontario aged 18+ (if there is interest for anyone younger than 18 years old please let us know, this is helpful for planning future offerings!)
Investment: $350 (pay in full or in 2 instalments, with the first instalment at due at registration and the second due by the start of the second week on August 7)
As a Registered Psychotherapist, this psychotherapeutic group can be submitted to most insurance for coverage. Interested individuals are encouraged to explore if Registered Psychotherapists are covered under their insurance policies.
A limited number of subsidized spots are available to those who are experiencing financial insecurity. Please do not hesitate to contact choose this option when registering if you are in this position but wanting to participate and would like to be considered for one of these spots.
Please note that your registration fee does not include art materials and a supply list will be sent to you ahead of our first meeting. The art material and supply list will have financial and eco-friendly considerations in mind.
Let me reassure you: artistic skill is NOT required here. Art therapy is about using creativity as a tool for communication and expression of inner thoughts/emotions/experiences. This is all about process over product.
Art therapy gives us the unique ability to connect the “thinking” and “feeling” parts of your brain through, supporting a shift in both your mental and physical states and the processing of big emotions. While the inclusion of somatic work allows for us to connect our minds with the experiences in our bodies.
Join me in this new group program to hold space for both our grief and our hope as we process the state of the world together.
“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.”
— Bell Hooks
About Aisha
Aisha Husseini (she/her) is a somatic art therapist on a lifelong journey to spread compassion and make the invisible, visible. She is a first-generation Canadian born to a Trinidadian mother and Palestinian father who both immigrated to Turtle Island. She herself is navigating the depths of grief about the state of the world and looks forward to creating something special with others also seeking community care and embodied liberation.
As a somatic art therapist she combines the creative process with psychotherapy, facilitating self exploration, expression, understanding, integration, & healing. She welcomes and encourages ritual, ceremonial, ancestral and traditional healing practices to support the creation of a healing container for those she works with.
As a heart-centred imperfect human walking this earth just like you, she strives to bring her full self in her personal and professional life, which includes a love of laughter, silliness, embracing messiness, meeting people deeply, a desire to learn and honouring authenticity.
Aisha values deeply listening to the rhythms and wisdom of her body, mind and spirit. She prioritizes regular walks, frolicking through nature hugging trees, listening to music, dancing, reading or listening to a good book, snuggles with her cats, and deep belly laughs with those she loves.