We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Helen Spaw a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Helen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

We create art programs that are adapted for the needs of anyone. Through art and community, participants process their life experiences and gain insight.

In our open art studio programs, those who may not have accessible mental health support or who would not feel comfortable seeking out mental health services can experience the joy of art making with social and emotional wellness support. An example of this is The Art Tent for unhoused participants that I lead in collaboration with St. Paul’s UMC and the Emergency Aid Coalition.

In the Healing Art Circles, we use an adapted format of the Healing Circle, combined with an art exercise to access our inner guidance, healing and wholeness through art and community. We focus on the process of art making for facilitating sensory, social and emotional connections. We explore a variety of art materials that are designed for the needs and interests of the participants.
Some of our topics and participants include foster care support, grief and loss, women’s circles, divorce care, spiritual practices, cancer support, caregivers support. An example of this type of circle is the Healing of Racism circle I have led since 2016 in collaboration with The Center for The Healing of Racism. These circles are offered for outreach communities seeking mental health support services for staff and the participants they serve.

I also lead individual art sessions for anyone ages 3 and up, including those with neurological differences or processing transitions. These art sessions are for anyone that would benefit from making art for sensory, social, and emotional support. These are available online or in person.

Helen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I thought I would be an artist but then discovered Art Therapy at The College of Santa Fe. I graduated from CSF with my bachelors in psychology and a focus in art therapy. I continued on to graduate from Pratt Institute with my masters in art therapy and creativity development. From my personal, school, and internship experiences, I was able to begin working as a therapist. I did not realize that taking the path of an Art Therapist would not only lead to being a therapist for me. Instead, it became the experience I needed to creating other offerings for mental wellness support through art. In 2016 I trained with Healing Circles. I began leading Healing Art Circles that combine the intentions and an adapted format of Healing Circles with my art experience.

For the past 12 years, I have been leading programs, groups, classes and individual sessions using my background connecting people to their own creative process and inner guidance. This year, Jenny Meyer has become our Director for Healing Art Circles, LLC, our Intern Valencia Arline joined us, as well as Carlos Cisneros, workshop and meditation leader. With their experience and assistance, we are growing new wellness through art programs in a variety of communities. Wellness through art is for everyone!

We now offer wellness through art programming for universities, non-profit communities, retirement centers, and government mental health support. The labyrinth art walks, meditations, and nature art circles are additional types of wellness experiences we are offering.

For our corporate communities, we offer a wellness through art program that offers a way to support wellness needs and sponsor the wellness art programs for our outreach communities. The circles and workshops we offer are for centering, gaining self-confidence, self-expression, enjoyment, stress relief, mindfulness, team-building, collaboration, empowerment, and growth in a supportive environment.

Our online programming includes Healing Art Circles, Individual Art Sessions, and Meditations for accessible wellness practice.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

In our case, practicing the wellness art experiences together creates the supportive environment we all want to work in. It also helps to work with your favorite people!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being a single mom has taught me how to manage multiple situations and challenges while simultaneously discovering amazing experiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.healingartcircles.com
• Instagram: @healingartcircles
• Facebook: healingartcircles
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenspaw

Image Credits
Helen Spaw