Speaking and Workshops
Through seminars, workshops, panel moderation, and special guest appearances, Melissa has invited many to reflect on long-standing unattended issues impairing the wellness of communities, especially marginalized ones. Her discussion about trauma moving from one generation to another tends to incite curiosity about the power of becoming conscious agents of change. Participants consistently come away moved to go deeper into their healing journey.
Speaking
Audiences within health and wellness, entertainment, professional associations, education, government and non-profit sectors have been engaged in mental health topics tailored to the most pressing needs of their community. Diversity and inclusion initiatives to improve working conditions and service provision are primary subject matters addressed.
Art of Living Deliciously WORKSHOPS
The customized workshops assist individuals in improving their relationship with themselves and the communities they belong to. Strengthening intentional creation of wellness is at the core of this process. Emphasis is in culturally-informed self and community care in the interest of thriving. Melissa’s passion for the arts as vehicles for transformational healing manifests in the workshop experiences. As in all events, the use of role plays, storytelling, writing exercises, music, guided imagery/visualization, relaxation, and movement exercises serve to enrich the conversations. The intention is to engage participants in becoming intimately connected to the artistry and creativity of life’s journey in honor of thriving.
Below are some frequently presented themes:
Reconnecting With Your Spark
This topic delves into the freedom to cultivate a joyful life fueled by innate creative genius in alignment with one’s values. For attendees healing from burnout, this experience reinforces the process of reconnection with themselves and the communities they belong to. Participants are invited to explore new opportunities in a changing world, and this includes refocusing energy towards a more robust and rewarding professional life with creative options to be of service. The intention is to promote a view of oneself as a “walking diversified portfolio” richly influenced by cultural nuances.
Art Making in the Flow
The goal is to support artists in identifying ways to amplify their experience of art making that feels in sync with their intentions. Often, conversations revolve around the role of artists as essential to bringing consciousness to issues clamoring for societal attention and healing, including their own, such as in social injustice. Artivism, the role of art in activism, is highlighted in this process.
Healing the Helping Professional
Together we strengthen strategic self-care to prevent or recover from burnout, compassion fatigue, and/or vicarious traumatization, to enhance fulfilling experiences of service. These conversations focus on acknowledging what it takes to be a helping professional, a practitioner of the healing arts, and the urgent need to prioritize self-healing to create emotional space for being of service.
The Heart of a Teacher
The focus is to uplift teachers’ role as shapers and influencers aiming to promote a generation of confident community-builders that make the most of their skills. In these workshops we set the tone for culturally-informed conversations with all members of the academic community and students’ parents to create the conditions for healing campus life and strengthen collaboration. The teachers’ creative nature is essential to discovering ways to amplify their ability to support their students’ development.