Using collage+art materials you will create an image of (or representing) a strawberry. Melanie will then take you through a strength-based approach to wellness using your strawberry image as a guide. This workshop will also include Haudenonsaunee teachings about the strawberry as a fruit and a symbol for wellness+self love.

Art making will allow participants to work through life/professional/academic experiences in a safe and expressive way. Art as healing is a growing movement that has a lot to offer to people working through emotions that are difficult to put into words. Art Therapy is the use of the creative process partnered with psychotherapy which offers a chance for self-exploration and understanding. Art allows us to explore things we may not have words to explain. While it can be a deep and intense form of counselling, this group will focus on a lighter form of art therapy – 'art as healing'. We will be using art as a tool for expression and discussion.

Melanie Gray graduated from Queen's University in 2016 with a BAH in Art History and Indigenous Studies. She went on to do her graduate program at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute where she graduated in 2018. Her thesis was titled The Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen. Project: Introducing Art Therapy to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory using the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. As an Indigenous Art Therapist, Melanie continues to be grounded in her Haudenosaunee culture and uses this understanding in her practice.