Skip to main content

After Maternity Leave: Getting back in Gear.

#Hermine

After the long pregnancy months and the 8 weeks (turned to 13 due to a timely hurricane), getting back on my feet was something I was looking forwards to. Finding the right daycare and resuming my career right where I left off...

Except that, as soon as I did find daycare and returned to work, it was lackluster. Trading those long & slow morning routines for quick out-the-door and on the road ones. Taking only the memory of her soft skin and baby scent to get me through the long commute (50 miles each way) and even longer work day. ---- some will scoff at that statement, saying i should be more than ready to return to work after 13 weeks. And in many ways i was tired of the home monotony. I knew going into this that the stay at home mom gig was not for me. But jumping into an 8-4:30 (with commute more like 6:30-5:30) while my infant is raised by (essentially) strangers, is no walk in the park.

I bare my soul to set the stage for why it worked out to have dissolved my groups and client relationships (sort-of) when I left on maternity leave. After 13 weeks away from work some things had changed and many had stayed just as I left them. For instance, the paperwork I didn’t get to because contractions came a week sooner than expected --- now months late, it waited for me.

Something that came naturally before, infusing my work life with enthusiasm and empathy once again, is taking some doing. I’m setting up several groups from scratch with themes that are both needed and of great interest to me -- Mindfulness and creativity. Two very unlikely partners in a forensic setting, where most art supplies are contraband and the overall environment is bleak at best. Under such a restrictive environment, and with limited supplies, as well as time (45 minutes or less) -- we'll be tapping into an innate ability to create. Striving to sublimate some of the long-held emotional baggage my clients have been lugging around.

OK so this isn't my first mindfulness under bleak conditions rodeo. I've been teasing out ways to bring creativity and mindfulness to various populations at the hospital I work-in for many years now. My current group will help me fine-tune these skills further. If I manage to find some time for my own self-nurturing creative practices I’ll be set.

Here's to getting back in gear! #resilience

Currently reading: Mindfulness and the Arts Therapies a book by Ellen Mullin and Janet Surrey, edited by Laury Rappaport. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing a Moment: Gelatin Printing

Lets just get right down to it, you've either tried it and loved it or you're currently wondering what I'm talking about. Gelatin prints that's what. A few years ago a student introduced me to the wonders of using homemade gelatin as a printing plate (sugar free kind). As it turns out it is a very versatile work surface that brings an element of intrigue and play into the work space. When my clients first hear I'll be bringing in gelatin, they seek out napkins and forks and eagerly away the obviously tasty snack. The sound of dreams shattering as I pull-out the gelatin plates is audible (if only short lived). Soon everyone is poking and wiggling the gelatin and wondering what we'll be doing with it. Play is an important aspect of what I do. So is creativity and genuine interest. These things are however harder to come-by in adults than their younger counterparts (who jump-into explorer mode instinctively).  Sometimes I have to coerce these attr
1 comment
Read more

Stress Relief Recipe Book

Found some time this weekend to de-stress and what better way than delving into one of those “for later” piles. This particular pile consisted of a menagerie of brown paper bags (and the envelopes they were mailed-in). They were accompanied by notes, quotes, dyed papers, hand made paper, ribbons, and on and on, etc.   These bits of mail have been coming-in at wonderfully random intervals for maybe 2 months. Now it is time to bind the collection into the Stress Relief Recipe Book it was meant for. To the bag full of bits of mail I also added: ruler, pencil, x-acto blade (and scissors), ice-pic, elmers (and other glues), thick string, wax candle (used it to wax the string), thick-blunt needle, and cardboard. *for anyone trying this out for the first time - go ahead and make your life simpler by having the inserts all be the same measurements (or close to it). First there was extensive Pinterest and Google searches for DIY paper bag books, but those mostly consisted
3 comments
Read more

Technique Book #1

Returning from this years’ AATA Conference in San Antonio thankful to have connected and reconnected with so many amazing art therapists. It’s been busy and I didn’t mean to set the blog aside, but here’s some visual yummies to begin to make things up. Last August (yep, 2013) I made a small accordion book. In this accordion style, I essentially pieces together several strips of paper into one continuous page that folds at repeating intervals. I gave the book purpose when I decided to use it as a place to document art techniques. These art techniques were small samplings of ones I would be using in my groups. Today I completed the small book and am posting some of the images here with brief dialogue on some of the techniques. If there's interest I will consider separate posts later-on. Book Cover: Layered tissue paper with pressed leaves. Accordion style pages were 'seamed' with strips of tea bags. On left: Tea bag sheets can be used to age/antique.   On
Post a Comment
Read more