Cultivating Radical Acceptance Through Artmaking, Improvisation and Storytelling

Facilitators: Bobbi Kidder MA, RDT, BCT and Kriya Kaping BA, MA

Read more about our Instructors/Facilitators here.

Date:  Friday  February 10 and Saturday February 11, 2023
Hours: Friday 4:00 – 7:00 pm and Saturday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific Time).
Location:  ONLINE via Zoom
CEs: 6 CEs

This is a workshop about Radical Acceptance, a part of the canon of Mindfulness approaches. Through activities such as Guided Meditation, Artmaking, Movement, Journal Writing, Poetry, and Improvisation we will create opportunities for Story building, and Storytelling in a creative, supportive, collaborative space.

Some of the activities we will engage in:

• Exploring core beliefs about “belovedness”~a sense of belonging nurtured by the actions of loving. We will engage in artmaking around the symbol one has, to represent the desired sense of being beloved.
• Journal writing and group poem exploring the without the basic barriers to feeling a sense of balance.
• We will introduce concept of “Aimless Wandering”. This Mindful approach encourages acceptance of a new possibility, as you follow where your body leads and go on an aimless wandering adventure.
• We will engage in improv games such as “Change of Mind” and introduce “Travel Mishaps” as we look at humor in service of Radical Acceptance.
• We will also work with Trauma Informed Drama Therapy as an approach to mitigate suffering.

Basic drawing and writing supplies are recommended, such as:

• At least two pieces of whatever paper you choose. Drawing or watercolor paper are recommended.
• Drawing pencils, pastels, or pens. Several colors are recommended but monochromatic depictions​ are fine too.

Quotes and Recommended Reading

When we practice Radical Acceptance, we begin with the fears and wounds of our own life and discover that our heart of compassion widens endlessly.  In holding ourselves with compassion, we become free to love this living world.
Brach, T. (2003). Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. New York: Bantam Books.
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Fear and play cannot go together.  Take a look at your environment and look at where you are unsafe. …Find ways to engage your body in play…A lack of play should be treated like malnutrition—it’s a health risk to your body and mind.
Brown, Stuart. (2009). Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. New York: Penguin Publishers.
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…our time was marked by laughter.  We worked in the circle often and found that sharing who we are with one another helps us to realize that it is ok to be who you are.  These simple things:  working together and having fun in the space can be of significant help to traumatized youth.
Sanjani, N. and Johnson, D., ed. (2014). Trauma-Informed Drama Therapy: Transforming Clinics, Classrooms, Communities. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, LTD.
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Storytelling is frightening (and exhilarating) because it involves a journey into the unknown.  Abandon the struggle to tell stories and improvised comedy will be just another form of gutless light entertainment…and your best players will drift away in search of something more stimulating than the endless repetition of the same games.
Johnstone, K. (1999) Impro for Storytellers. New York: Routledge Publishers.
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The events that we see (during the storytelling process) are like loose beads, and it is through our imagination that these beads are strung together.
Weiwei, A. (2021) 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.

You will receive the Zoom access link 1 day prior to the workshop date. 

Cancellation Policy: We require cancellation notification at least 2 weeks prior to the workshop date for the online Ethics of Self-Care in order to use your registration fee towards a future workshop. No refunds will be given.

If you are outside of Washington State, we advise that you check with your state licensing board to confirm that they accept NBCC approved CEs. 

This workshop offers 6 CEs for Mental Health Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Social Workers.

Northwest Creative & Expressive Arts Institute is a NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider ™,
ACEP No. 7014.