“This experience has been life-changing—I am stronger in mind and method as a result.”
~Workshop Participant
Over the course of years of teaching, artistic creation and research, Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene created the Healing Arts Curriculum that is the foundation of the Healing Is A Creative Practice workshops. HCP draws from thoughtfully designed, interactive sessions, suitable for one-on-one and group presentations or sessions. Sessions are typically 60 to 90 minutes, can be stand-alone or a series of sessions (a residency). Sessions are organized around a specific theme and guiding questions. The HA Curriculum can be customized, if requested. The Healing Arts Curriculum and method centers inclusivity in teaching, accessibility in language and the way ideas are presentation. Multi-sensory, engaging and interactive sessions give different style learners multiple entry points into the topics being discussed.
“I appreciated the opportunities for creative processing and collective vulnerability—this is exactly what I’ve been looking for.“
~Workshop Participant
Examples of Some Healing Arts Curriculum Workshops:
HEAL FIRST: Ethically & Gracefully Integrating Arts & Activism is led by storyteller and artist Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene. This reflective, hands-on session will explore the powerful connection between art, healing, and advocacy. Through multimedia presentations, engaging exercises, and practical instruction, you’ll gain strategies to amplify political messages, foster genuine healing, and build ethical, meaningful collaborations.
The Writing the Missing Story workshop excavates our missing stories. What stories/poems are tumbling inside your chest that are missing from the world around you? What truths are curled on the insides of your bones aching to be spoken and written? What experiences are you praying some writer writes for you so you can, for once, see your own reflection in books/blogs/tweets/literature/film? Writing the Missing Story consists of various writing prompts, exercises and discussions that serve the purpose of crafting those stories/poems/essays missing from the media around us. We write together, creating an alternative reality of the written truth of our experiences. At the end of the workshop, everyone will leave with tools to continue to deepen the writing we began together.
Healing Arts As Praxis: How do we maintain and ensure emotional safety while working in traumatic environments or addressing topics that are painful? Can we create survival technology? Healing arts technology? Methods that support our growth and healing while we face the pain within and outside of us? How do we address conflict, misunderstandings and differences of opinion while reducing/eliminating further harm? Healing is a journey, not a destination. We have to build our own tech to survive. We can’t afford to, nor do we have the time to wait until we’re on the bench or in the off season to rest, to heal, to process what we feel about what is happening around us. We have to heal in the field, especially when doing intensely traumatic work. You can’t urge others to heal, professionally or personally, when you aren’t doing your own work. Healing arts as praxis provides practical tools to engage arts as part of personal and communal healing work. Engaging the healing work of healing arts practitioners to study and engage in their approach through guided exercises and conversation.
Repetition Is Sacred Workshop: Participants are encouraged to bring unfinished bodies of work or a draft they are in the process of editing/completing (e.g. writing, sketches, a portion of a script, film or performance piece). Through guided exercises, together we will rework a portion of the work. Through the application of creative editing tenets / lessons, participants will deepen the understanding of their work and have the opportunity to see their work anew. What can the process of rehearsal–coming to a body of work again and again–teach us about creating our best work?
“The poems, the music, the writing prompts—they were so well woven together and reminded me that THIS is the work.”
~Workshop Participant
EGBERI 