Strong Art Speaks - Weekly Drop-in

Service Description

Strong Art Speaks: TransForming Pain into Power is an 8-week drop-in art series designed for queer, trans, and gender-expansive individuals to explore grief, resilience, and self-expression through creative practice. Hosted by a Grief Coach and GenderQueer Artist Rev. Cat, these sessions provide a trauma-informed, affirming space where participants can process loss, systemic oppression, and personal transformation using dynamic collage, found poetry, and community art collaborations. No artistic experience is needed—just a willingness to show up, create, and be witnessed. Supplies are provided. Join us Tuesdays, 7-9pm from Feb 25 - April 15, 2025, in East Van off Commercial Drive. Rev. Cat has 15 years of spiritual direction experience in bringing clients through the underworld of their personal grief journeys and supporting them in defining what their "new normal" looks and feels like. They are a queer, non-binary, neuro-diverse, chronically ill, disabled, solo parent, priestess, wedding officiant and spiritual health practitioner. They offer Alternative Queer Clergy representation for folks feeling on the outs with the big 5 religions. You may be navigating spiritual changes that have occurred through loss, trauma, chronic illness and pain, diagnosis, disability, death and near death experiences, estrangement, divorce, grief, healing inner child wounding and complicated family dynamics. Rev. Cat has a lived experience of moving through all of these really challenging moments and learning grace for themselves and others in the process of personal evolution through grief. YES! Grief is hard... also it gets a lot easier if you have a set of tools to aid you along the way. What if we understood grief to be a powerful initiation... inviting us into deeper understandings of ourselves and the world... How do you chose to spend your sacred moments on this planet? While the weekly format will start with a grounded meditation, afterwards we will explore the following topics: •prompts to help you move through the waves of grief. •building healthy boundaries •creating personal self-care rituals. •connecting with community and sharing a safe space to process your journey. •identifying allies and advocating new needs. •honouring where you are at in your emotions through somatic body talk. •supporting sacred intimacy in all of our chosen relationships. •wholistic focus of mind, body, soul, and understanding the individual and collective grieving process.