Friend of the Mind

Please register here!

Tickets are limited and if you join in with a friend it's a $100 discount!

https://events.humanitix.com/3rd-expressive-arts-therapists-self-care-retreat-closer-to-nature?_gl=1*1uggwhr*_gcl_au*Mjk4MDMyNDM0LjE3MTAwMjcyMzk.*_ga*NDExNjA0MjA4LjE3MTAwMjcyMzk.*_ga_LHKW5FR9N6*MTcxMDAyNzIzOS4xLjEuMTcxMDAyNzI4MC4xOS4wLjA.

3rd Expressive Arts Therapists' Self Care Retreat - Closer to Nature | Humanitix 3rd Qld Expressive Arts Therapists' Self-care Retreat 2024 - Yarun, Bribie Island.

https://events.humanitix.com/3rd-expressive-arts-therapists-self-care-retreat-closer-to-nature?_gl=1*1uggwhr*_gcl_au*Mjk4MDMyNDM0LjE3MTAwMjcyMzk.*_ga*NDExNjA0MjA4LjE3MTAwMjcyMzk.*_ga_LHKW5FR9N6*MTcxMDAyNzIzOS4xLjEuMTcxMDAyNzI4MC4xOS4wLjA

3rd Expressive Arts Therapists' Self Care Retreat - Closer to Nature | Humanitix 3rd Qld Expressive Arts Therapists' Self-care Retreat 2024 - Yarun, Bribie Island.

Taking some time out to get creative.

A creative arts therapies intro session for health workers in the community for with and Lalita the Dance Therapist.

An interesting perspective on mental health and well-being. Diagnosis is not directly related to mental illness or well-being.
On the contrary, someone with a ‘diagnosed’ mental health condition could have high mental well-being.
Its important not to assume what someone’s mental health looks like and to have a dialogue about it if they are comfortable.

We have two amazing creative arts events coming up for this mental health week.
Putting events together takes months of core planning meeting, co-ordination between venues and zoom catch ups with some wonderful therapists.
We’ve navigated a cafe fire and relocating venues, problem solving for numbers, marketing, resourcing and managing multiple schedules all to put filter some free mental health events to promote creative art therapies.
It’s been great to work with who has been such a force of nature taking this forward along with , Lalita, , Jess and .
We’ve were pleasantly surprised with so many registrations and we can’t wait!

Experienced Art, Movement and Music Therapists come together to provide an afternoon of simple, guided arts therapy practices that you can add to your self-care program, use with clients or in your team meetings to regulate nervous systems whenever you need to.
We work with complex clients each week, and have experienced the power of simple art activities to regulate emotions, nervous systems and create 'happy brains' even in the face of the sometimes tragic experiences of our clients. Intention is the key to arts therapy, using mindfulness in a specific way to transform emotional states in short periods of time.
You have probably experienced the power of a song to transform your mood, or maybe you doodle while in meetings? In a similar way the arts used therapeutically can transform clients and practitioners alike. We are here to provide some evidence based practices so you can take them home and to work and help even more clients. We all have accreditation with ANZACATA or PACFA our therapeutic bodies and have trained extensively in arts therapy (and trauma work), so we are going to be able to answer your questions about the arts in mental health either as Arts Therapy or Art As Therapy.
Come and relax with some lovely peers in a groovy environment for the evening. Stay as long or short as you like, but the food is seriously YUM! So you can swing by after work and enjoy your evening with us.

in Brisbane.

Come along for a free peek into creative arts therapy - offered by professionally registered therapists!

Link below!

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/fun-introduction-to-art-therapy-for-allied-health-professionals-tickets-416952655617

Hi everyone!
FREE: Art making in the park
Looking forward to making some art tomorrow morning 11th of September at Kedron Brook. Everyone welcome 🙂
9:45am

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/art-break-day-september-2022-tickets-413611963517?fs=e&s=cl

Art Break Day September 2022 Come take a break and make some art + be part of a free community art event with 40+ global locations! Register with the QR code to join!

Throwback to The Welcome Dinner Project - QLD where Friend of the Mind was first introduced to the team at QMF.
Thank you all for the great food, great memories and a warm welcome to Brisbane.
The potluck included meals from all over the world. Let’s just say puliogare and flavourful chaat masala with mixed fruit were a few Indian contributions added to the mix.

Eve Klein and the team at QMF created the most supportive and warm atmosphere for immigrants,refugees and people of the community to come together, share food and stories around culture, ideas of home and connection almost a year ago.
They collated these stories and added glorious music compositions to form this brilliant concept of ‘City Symphony’.
I look back with fond memories at this whole experience. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to be part of this!

City Symphony – Open Letter From Eve Klein About The Immersive Curiocity Event Award-winning composer, mezzo soprano, sound artist and academic Dr Eve Klein invites audiences to 'hear' Brisbane city as part of this year

A fun-filled, quirky and collaborative creative arts therapists’ meet up.
It’s amazing how it always feels like I’m ‘coming home’ when I meet fellow creative arts therapists (even if I’ve met them for the first time). We just ‘get each other’.
It was even better to meet a fellow dance movement therapist Lalita , who had also trained under Tripura Kashap and share stories of Bengaluru, India. The world really is so small sometimes.

In a field where there often isn’t enough advocacy, awareness or resources, we’ve got to build it from the ground up.
It is heartening to hear the valuable work everyone is doing in various roles across QLD.

Having had a couple of meetings for upcoming mental health week in October, with , it was exciting to open our ideas into a larger group for possible collaboration and growth. Taraka has been resourceful in bringing together QLD arts therapists this year.
We are hopeful for what 2022 can bring.

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Exciting news! Friend of the Mind is co-facilitating another two art therapy groups during the school holidays at Early Start Australia. Check out the posters below for more information🎨

Another art therapy offering in the mix this school holidays. Take a look!

Friend of the Mind is honoured to be invited by Shivtensity, to speak about the relationship between art therapy and stress relief. Catch us tomorrow at 1pm IST.
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Shivtensity is celebrating their one year anniversary with 12 talks this Saturday 12th June, 2021.
Take a look at the poster and links to register below.
🥳
Link:
https://buff.ly/3whqi4T

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Some clips from my previous post of synchronicity😌
Enjoy some amazing amalgamations of Mohiniattam, Tibetian, Bangladeshi, Punjabi, Karnatic and other influences during this magical evening at , raising funds for the impact of covid in India.

🌜 If you are able to donate even a small amount to India during this tough time, here is a link: https://india.unicef.org.au/uniteforindia

Synchrony works in strange ways.🤯
Here's one of many synchronicities that have been showing up.
Two days ago, my father in India told me about a famous South Indian Vocalist Dr. Charulatha Mani , over a general phone call. He had been impressed with her YouTube videos explaining the philosophies behind ragas, in Indian music. He noticed that she lived in the same city I however I had never heard of her before, and said I'd keep my eyes open.
Today, by absolute chance, I ended up at , an event to raise funds for UNICEF India. It was a magical evening at La Boite Theatre and included fusions of Mohiniattam, Bangaladeshi, Punjabi, Tibetian and Karnatic vocals and a live stream of a new and upcoming band from Chennai, India. Such a well organised and soul stirring event. It really is something special to hear sounds of your homeland reverberating on a live stage after the era of covid lockdowns.
Coming back to the story- Who do I witness on stage but Charulatha herself. Turns out she was one of the main organisers of the event. I was able to not only appreciate her amazing musical talent but also have a brief chat with her.
What a small world!
Sending out some of the warmth I received tonight to each of you reading this. A reminder to find something that soothes your soul, this weekend.

🌜 If you are able to donate even a small amount to India during this tough time, here is a link: https://india.unicef.org.au/uniteforindia

If you have ever wondered if Art Therapy may be suitable for your child, this video from the Master of Mental Health (Art Therapy) team at the University of Queensland team will give you a window into the benefits of Art Therapy and how it is applied in sessions. It’s a particularly useful therapy when verbal communication can be challenging and where expressive/creative therapies are desired.

https://future-students.uq.edu.au/study/programs/master-mental-health-5151/art-therapy-artthx5151

Our own Mental Health Professionals Amanda and Manaali at our Strathpine clinic in Queensland are graduates of the program, and Amanda now also contributes as a member of the university teaching team for students training in art therapy across Australia. Registered Art Therapists are masters level qualified and are professional members of ANZACATA (https://anzacata.org/).

Get in contact with the Strathpine team on 1300 914 318 if this is something you’d like to explore further.

🌟A single synchronous meeting can lead to growing friendships with other art therapists.🌟
So glad to have met Rupa at the Australia, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapy Association (ANZACATA) Symposium at the end of 2019, where we both made presentations at the Festival of Creativity.
More than a year later, I was finally able to reach out and meet her at her incredible private studio in Sydney.
It is so important to keep the community alive for a profession that is still in its developing phase, especially in Australia.
Thank you for the heartfelt conversation on art therapy, your budding practice, the struggles of both is us as migrants to the country and the mutual sharing of resources.

So please check out her website or go in to for an open studio she holds on Saturdays.
Website: https://buff.ly/3wXSxGp

Recipe 2:
Preheat your oven. Mix almond flour with nutlex(a vegan butter alternative) and a little cinnamon. Form into a crust. Grill this for a couple of minutes till it browns on the top for that fantastic taste.
Blend some fresh mango ( I only had frozen which works) with some yoghurt, sesame seeds and dessicated coconut.
Add this mixture to the base and voila you are done! Thanks for the inspiration Cherie☺️
🎂
winlaw gave the thumbs up for both! If you do try these out, give me a shout out. Both are completely modifiable. Have fun with it.
🙏🏽

Some super simple recipes coming your way for GF/vegan cutlets/patties and a gorgeous GF mango coconut dessert inspired by .

Recipe 1: Veggie cutlet
Grate sweet potato and squeeze out as much moisture from it as possible.
Add cooked chickpeas/red beans to veggies like carrot/corn/peas and mush them up to a coarse consistency.
Add some ginger garlic paste and cumin powder/seeds along with salt.
Mix all ingredients together, form into patties and shallow fry on a non stick pan.
Feel free to customise this by adding spice powders and other flavours. It is so forgiving that you can add almost anything and it will still taste great!

🙏🏽 Second recipe will be posted soon.

Creative pursuits come in all forms.
My love for sustainability, creativity and experimentation culminate in not just art and movement, but culinary pursuits as well. I'll be posting a few more of these in the next few days.
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Used some aloe and mint from the garden to make a drink with elderflower and rose cordial. The leftovers were used to make a stash of face serum.
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Aloe has magnificent healing and regenerative properties and can be used in cooking, drunk as a juice, applied on wounds/skin rashes .
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The process of harvesting, cleaning and processing it took me back to childhood memories of making 'magic potions' with all the secret ingredients from the garden.
🌞

Art is a mirror of the self.
Art is a bridge to the unconscious.
Art can give you the answers you seek.
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Some art explorations on themes of being a part of something larger than oneself, allowing one to be fully seen in all the chaos, being unafraid to take bold steps, and remaining grounded in the moment.
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A glorious day of meeting like-minded people, scrumptious homemade food and some music opens up my body, heart and mind to the artistic process and mindful exploration.

Honored to be invited back to the University of Queensland - Family of Medicine department. Thank you O'Sullivan and Leotta🙏🏽 for the opportunity to address the Master's of Mental Health(specialisation in art therapy) first year students.
✨I went over my experience as an international student and what I would do differently in my first year.
✨ Had some fun acronyms to help with remembering some personalised tips and tricks to get through the course successfully.
✨ Discussed my current exploits in terms of work, areas of interest and future plans.

It was lovely to get to know the new cohort, a whopping 19 in total, with a background in a variety of fields. Even better to have them ask so many questions and keep it interactive. Looking forward to more such opportunities to collaborate with the art therapy department and UQ in the future 🥰