Club 36
Alzheimer Calgary
In collaboration with the amazing organization Alzheimer Calgary, Chari offers art as therapy to the members of both Seton and Harvest Hills locations of the day program called Club 36 monthly.
Working with people with dementia of all forms is a passion of Chari's. During her clinical practicum she knew that continuing working at Club 36 would be a part of her professional journey after graduation. The present moment is a beautiful moment and she feels the importance of what is happening in the now when she is at the Club. A humbling reminder she holds tenderly.
By offering a mentally stimulating activities individuals participate in neuroscience backed activities and social interaction during their full day at the Club 36 locations.
Alzheimer Calgary Club 36 Adult Day Program
* Photo directly from the Alzheimer Calgary website above*
Art Therapy Group at Silver Linings Foundation
Chari has always been deeply curious about attachment theory, neuroscience, trauma and how these things all can have a part in how disordered eating may become a part of someone's story. Eating, food and our bodies are primary relationships in our lives. We must eat to live, occupy our bodies and face food and yet, we are all touched in one way or another with the impact of disordered eating. Living in the western world makes our susceptibility of impact greater as our very cultural fiber consistently promotes unhealthy relationships with how we feel and express emotion, how we see and interact with our bodies and how we relate to food.
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Chari works with the Silver Linings Foundation which offers 6 week in person art therapy groups, four times a year. Working in a group setting can be empowering and encouraging. Through listening, witnessing and being seen, group art therapy can be a healing experience. Grounded in a trauma informed relational model of care Chari offers a environment at The Hub that is inclusive, safe and nourishing, encouraging participants to be the co-creators of their journey.
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If you or someone you know is faced with disordered eating and you are looking for support, this foundation is a great place to start.
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Calgary Silver Linings Foundation - Teens & Adults - Art Therapy
Meet Lex
Lex Ireton is an art therapy intern finalizing her studies at Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. Art has always lived in her heart and once she discovered glassblowing the magic entered. Lex enters the therapeutic space as an artist herself. She has experienced firsthand how working with the creative process in art therapy spaces allows for a completely different feeling and outcome than the art making centered in traditional fine art approaches. In therapeutic art spaces we do not need to be artists at all. Here we are free to show up as we are in the ways that we choose.
Whether someone comes with a background of art knowledge or has never picked up a paint brush in their life, art therapy allows for each individual to tap into their own well of creativity and take from it what they choose.
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Lex strives to create environments that allow for connection. Connection to the process, materials, community, self, and the unknown. Central to her approach is an attempt to infuse an element of magic into each step of the journey. Engaging with play and experimentation along the way to assist stories, beliefs and ideas to come alive in the form of artistic creation.
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Born and raised in BC Lex has ended up on the other coast and now resides in Cape Breton NS. She lives in the woods near the ocean with her partner and two children and can often be found pleading with them to join her in some family paint by numbers action. She has a love for snow the sea and making new soup recipes.
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Lex and Chari collaborate for online offerings that touch in on the joy of art making, anti-perfection and simply being in group to witness and have some fun!
Meet Nicole
Nicole Bodnaresk is a recent graduate of the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute(KATI), post-baccalaureate program in Art Therapy and founder of Embrace Grace Therapy out of Edmonton, Alberta. Throughout her time at KATI, she was able to have different placement opportunities where she worked in respite care for diversibilities, a retreat centre for woman recovering from trauma, Be Brave Ranch for Little Warriors, and created grief groups. As part of her training and personal values and principles, she works with the framework of trauma-informed, relational, and client-centered therapy.
Her background stems from industrial and commercial health and safety consulting and curriculum development. While she sees the need for this in the workplace, she was often faced with workers experiencing burn out and psychologically unsafe workplaces. She hopes to help support workplace health and safety through different offerings under her Art Therapy umbrella.
She has been blessed to travel many places in the world and listen to people’s stories and honour their experiences. She had run her own business for many years and made herself known in the community through different avenues. Her change in career has been long lived. Starting her Art Therapy adventure in 2016. After constantly needing to put it on pause due to health issues, Nicole woke up from her first brain surgery over three years ago and decided to enroll in a full time Art Therapy program.
Nicole volunteers as a health and mental health advocate, assists as an Art Therapist, and helps people find resources. She also sits on the board of a non-profit boxing club for underprivileged members. Her dream is to create safe homes for trauma survivors, offering kindness, love, and healing through music, art, and other therapeutic methods, ensuring they feel heard and cared for.
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Nicole and Chari offer online and in-person groups together around the topics of reconnection, speed dating, trauma healing and so much more.