How Do We Get Through Hard Times?

There are moments in our lives when we are stopped in our tracks. Moments where something out of our control impacts us in a way that can fee insurmountable. These are moments of sadness, of stress, of darkness, of feeling broken. We may lose someone, we may experience a great change in our lives. Or we may be in a moment where we struggle to find the drive to create like we want to. What do we do when we’re in that place?

When Cheryl Strayed was 22 she lost her mother to lung cancer, and words became a way to carry her through. In this episode, with the help of Dr. Girija Kaimal, the current president of the American Art Therapy Association, we explore how creativity can serve as a tool for helping us grapple with those moments in life when things feel unstable and unknown. 

Head over to CreativeFuelCollective.com for more creative inspiration, prompts, online workshops and a robust creative community.

Hosted by Anna Brones

Co-Produced by Anna Brones & Gale Straub

Theme Music is by cleod9 music

Season 1 is Made with Support by Big Cartel

Featuring: 

Cheryl Strayed: Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide and was made into an Oscar-nominated major motion picture. Her book Tiny Beautiful Things is currently being adapted for a Hulu television show that will be released in early 2023. In 2016, Tiny Beautiful Things was adapted as a play that has been staged in theaters around the world. Strayed is also the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, Torch, and the collection Brave Enough, which brings together more than one hundred of her inspiring quotes. Her award-winning essays and short stories have been published in The Best American Essays, the New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, and elsewhere. She has hosted two hit podcasts, Sugar Calling and Dear Sugars. She lives in Portland, Oregon. 

• Links:
  • Cheryl Strayed

Dr. Girija Kaimal: Dr Girija Kaimal (EdD, MA, ATR-BC) is Associate Professor, Interim Chair and most recently served as Assistant Dean for Special Research Initiatives at the Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions. In her  Health, Arts, Learning and Evaluation (HALE) research lab, she examines the physiological and psychological health outcomes of visual and narrative self-expression. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers and has a book forthcoming with Oxford University Press called The Expressive Instinct. Her research has been continually funded since 2008 by federal agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Education, National Endowment for the Arts as well as foundation and academic centers and has been featured by NPR, CNN, The New York Times as well as a range of media outlets worldwide. In her current studies, she is examining outcomes of art therapy for military service members with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, narratives from Gulf war veterans, and arts-based approaches to mitigate chronic stress among patients and caregivers in pediatric hematology/oncology units. Additional international research projects include examining the therapeutic underpinnings of indigenous and traditional artforms and the creative self-expression in times of adversity across the human lifespan. Living out her research  interests, she has been a lifelong  visual artist and her  art explores the intersection of identity and representation of emotion. She is currently the President of the American Art Therapy Association (a member organization of over 4,000 members) Dr. Kaimal has a doctorate from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Master of Arts from Drexel University and Bachelor's in Design from the National Institute of Design in India.  

• Links:
  • Girija Kaimal

Resources Mentioned & Places to Learn More

• American Art Therapy Association and the art therapist locator
• The Health, Arts, Learning and Evaluation research lab
• Some of Girija’s studies: impacts of artmaking in patients undergoing radiation, professional and informal caregivers of patients in a radiation oncology unit, and active duty military service members with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury
• Girija Kaimal’s new book, The Expressive Instinct
• “The Fog of Grief” by Pam Weintraub
• “How Grief Rewires the Brain”
• “Heroin/e” by Cheryl Strayed
• Cheryl Strayed’s books: Brave Enough, Wild, Torch, and Tiny Beautiful Things
• Mental Health Resources
  • If you are in crisis, get immediate help: call 911 or 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
  • CDC Mental Health Resources
  • American Psychologist Association psychologist finder
  • Black Art Therapist Network
  • Open Path Collective - Affordable Therapy

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