What are Creative Wellness Habits?
Creative wellness habits are the idea that we should do small daily rituals to improve our mental health. Some run, some do yoga, and some take up weight training; we are working on this aim to educate everyone to take up one or two creative arts-based activities to sustain their mental health.
What are Creative wellness courses?
Creative Wellness Master courses combine a well-being theme with a creative art exercise. It is a trial class for you to explore both the topic and the art medium.
What is the difference between creative wellness course and art therapy groups?
The Creative Wellness Program aims to educate participants about topics that serve as protective factors to help maintain our mental health. And, the participants enrolling in a creative wellness program may not have experienced mental ill health or have a mental health condition diagnosis yet. The creative exercises used lean on the "art as therapy" philosophy.
Art therapy groups are support groups where Art Therapy techniques are used as an intervention for participants experiencing mental ill health or being diagnosed with mental health conditions. The Creative exercises are rooted in "art psychotherapy" principles.
What qualifications and registrations does Rupa hold?
Rupa is an Australian Counselling Association Registered (ACA) Level 3 Counsellor and Australian, and New Zealand Creative Art Therapists Association (ANZACATA) registered Art Therapist.
Becoming a Level 3 Registered Counsellor requires completing an ACA-accredited course, two years post-qualification experience]and completing set clinical hours. Becoming an ANZACATA registered Art Therapist involves completing a Masters's Degree in Art therapy and required clinical hours. Maintaining the registrations also means continuously keeping up with the Continuous Professional Development and Supervision requirements of the required organisations.
Rupa is also a science graduate with a Certificate IV in training and assessment and extensive experience as a learning and development professional.
What is the studio timing? Can I walk in anytime?
The studio timings vary on different days. Except on Open Studio days, where clients have a drop-in window, studio visits are only by appointment at all other times.
What is Rupa’s title? Is she a Psychologist?
Rupa is a Registered Art Psychotherapist. As an art psychotherapist, Rupa uses the creative process (Art therapy Principles) and Counselling (talk therapy) to help support people with their well-being.
What do Psychotherapists do?
Psychotherapists are mental health professionals who use talk therapy to treat people with emotional problems and mental illnesses. They do not diagnose mental health conditions.
What do Psychologists do?
Psychologists are medical professionals who have doctoral degrees in psychology. They focus primarily on the area of medical care known as talk therapy, and they generally have extensive training in psychological diagnosis and testing.
What do Psychiatrists do?
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specialises in mental health. A psychiatrist understands both physical and psychological health conditions, and they will consider the links between them.
What is the difference between and Art studio (art class) and Creative Wellness (Studio) your classes?
An Art studio is a dedicated space where art is created. Although the area can be unique to each artist and the art medium they specialise in. In that way, MINDKSHETRA is similar, it is a space where art is made, and we promote all kinds of creative arts pursuits, not only visual arts. Art studios can also be spaces that advance the art and the artist, so aesthetics can play a significant role in how art is created and curated.
That is our USP (Unique Selling Proposition). At MINDKSHETRA, creative artmaking is used to experience the creative process and focused on deriving well-being benefits. The aim is not to hone artmaking skills and not to focus on aesthetics; its purpose is to engage in self-expression without judgement.
So in an art class, the outcome may be learning the techniques, creating an aesthetically pleasing product, and mastering a skill. Our creative wellness class outcome focuses on the creative process of playing with what a particular art medium has to offer and the meaning behind it. And most importantly, allow yourself to experiment with various innovative art strategies, make them part of your well-being toolkit, and develop a life skill to hone your mental muscle.
Though we provide instructions on the basic principles of how a creative medium may behave, the client may choose to use it according to their creative wisdom. Thus the purpose is to use it to hone well-being muscles.
It is not about creating a "masterpiece" but creating a space where our "creative wisdom" can find
What if making art is not my thing?
We understand that sometimes "making art can feel cumbersome". If that's the case, that's ok!
However, I do believe that most commonly, people equate "making art" equals "painting" or "drawing".
At MINDKSHETRA, I encourage people to consider tuning into creativity, "the creative process". There are many ways to do that. Origami, Writing, Pottery, Mind maps, working with found objects, playing instruments, dancing, working with Lego, terrarium building, singing, and collaging are other ways to tune into creativity. And there are numerous different ways as well.
I hope to gently insist that you give tuning into the creative process a shot in any way you connect with. If you need any ideas, feel free to reach me.
