Color Your Resistance: A Political Resilience Creative Support Group – What is your superpower?
A creativity group for progressive and radical activists, rapid responders, mutual aid comrades, and kindreds to slow down, share your experiences during the occupation and ongoing Resistance efforts, assess your well-being and self-care needs, and fortify for what’s next.
This 12-week group will provide a soft-landing space for its members to share their stories and experiences through artistic expression and group discussion.
You will be given the opportunity to creatively share the impacts of the political trauma stress on yourself, your loved ones, and your community.
What is your superhero name? Identify the superhero powers that have been getting you through these hard times.
Use any creative form to express your reflections, feelings, thoughts, and body sensations as they relate to this time of fascism, resilience, strength, grief, personal growth, and community connection.
Whimsy, heartbreak, humor, tears, rage, and hopefulness are all welcome here.
You will be invited to reflect on what you learned/are learning during this rise of fascism, talk about the hard times and the toll it took during the height of the occupation, and discuss who and what kept you moving your resistance efforts forward, as well as who deserves acknowledgment and celebration (including yourself).
The role of artistic expression in this support group:
Color your grief, anger, fatigue, joy, and hope.
No “art experience” or “skill” needed. Any form of creative expression is welcome: pencil scribbling, finger painting, oil painting, ink doodling, coloring with crayons or pastels, collage, poetry, storytelling, photography, music, movement, writing, etc.
No special “artistic supplies” are needed.
The weekly discussion topics will provide the prompts for your creative expression. Some of the “art” will be done in the group, and some will be suggested as optional homework between meetings. Members have the option to share their creative pieces and talk about them.
For more information and to schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation, use this link to the Group Interest Google Form: Which Superhero Support Group(s) Are You Interested In?
Topics for discussion
- Share the heartbreaking and inspirational experiences that continue to stick with you.
- Understand your spirit, body, and heart when the adrenaline rush of the intensity stops.
- What purposes does/did the occupation and resistance give to you?
- How attending to self-care and taking breaks can bring up guilt and feel like a moral injury.
- Assess your burnout and oppression fatigue.
- Assess your resilience. Increase your resilience-based strategies for sustained health, radical self-care, wellness, joy, and preparedness.
- Learn and share your tips for continuing and sustaining your activism, in whatever form it takes.
- For folks with intersecting identities, express the multi-layered toll the federal occupation, oppression, and fascism took and continues to take on you.
- Balancing personal commitments, health and well-being, while caring for loved ones, and the community.
- Gain insight and inspiration into the role you want to have as The Resistance continues.
- Basic preparedness tips for SHTF situations.
- Develop a concrete Political Action: Resilience and Wellness Plan.
- SSFI – Stay Safe and Fuck Ice.
The group will meet for 12 consecutive weeks. Confidential.
When: Depending on interest, two weekly groups may be offered, starting in June. Choose one.
Fee: $60/session. Sliding scale. To hold your spot and to support group cohesion, members are asked to make a financial and time commitment to attend all 12 meetings.
Free 30-minute consultation. 50-minute required individual intake appointment: $205. Sliding scale.
Facilitated by Irene Greene, MSED (she/her lesbian), a nationally recognized trainer and group facilitator.
For more information and to schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation, use this link to the Group Interest Google Form: Which Superhero Support Group(s) Are You Interested In?
See the Support and Skills Groups for general information about the groups Irene offers and her approach.
“Scientific and Psychological Explanations [of Artistic Expression]
While the therapeutic benefits of artistic expression…are widely acknowledged, the exact scientific and psychological mechanisms behind this connection are complex. There are several possible explanations:
Emotional Release: Artistic expression provides a safe space for emotional release. Creating art can be cathartic, allowing individuals to let go of pent-up emotions.
Dopamine Release: Engaging in creative activities can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This can provide temporary relief from the emotional pain of depression.
Mindfulness and Flow: The creative process can induce a state of mindfulness, where individuals are fully engaged in the present moment. This state of “flow” can temporarily shift their focus away from depressive thoughts.
Catharsis: The act of externalizing emotions through art can be cathartic, helping individuals gain insight into their feelings and experiences.” – Quoted content and photos: MindBody Optimization
