We’ve teamed up with our friends at Creu Cymru to bring you The Happiness Sessions. The sessions will be run free of charge & are aimed at arts workers in Wales who’ve been badly hit by the covid pandemic including freelancers, furloughed venue staff & arts professionals facing redundancy. The 4 short sessions will run over the course of the month & will focus on specific areas of wellbeing, giving practical tools to support building mental resilience & bringing joy in 2021.

You can book here for any or all of the sessions. The first 40 people to book for all four will receive a special Happiness pack through the post. Sessions will be delivered via Zoom.

13th Jan 11am-1pm

Kindness makes us feel good, Dr Radha Modgil

 Using kindness as a daily tool for feeling good – for you and for others. The power lies in your heart and your hands!

Dr. Radha is a practising NHS GP, broadcaster & campaigner for wellbeing. Radha educates in a creative and fun way, encouraging people to stay healthy. She has a passion for connecting with & hearing people’s stories, and understanding how we can all learn from each other.

Radha is the medical expert for BBC Radio 1’s daytime show, Life Hacks and the co-presenter of their weekly Life Hacks Podcast. She was the presenter of the CBeebies show Feeling Better, highlighting the importance of talking about emotions for young children. She was the presenter for the BBC Bitesize series ‘Exam Survivors’ on BBC Sounds. She has also reported on ITV’s This Morning, BBC Breakfast, ITV Tonight, Channel 5 News and ITN News.

Working across all platforms Dr Radha contributes to online projects including BBC Bitesize, BBC Teach, BBC Own It, BBC Advice Pages and BBC Learning. She has a particular interest in young people’s health & supporting parents, and has worked on campaigns with BBC Children in Need, Public Health England, MIND, British Heart Foundation, JDRF, The Mix And the NHS Youth Forum.

20th Jan 11am-1pm

Eating Right for the New Normal, Joanne Crovini

and

Pilates for Happiness, Jo Pryce

Joanne Crovini is a Nutritional Therapist with over a decade of experience working with individuals and organisations to support energy, mental health and resilience. She believes in simple and practical changes that have a big impact on how you feel and is full of tips and ideas for how you can incorporate these changes into your life.

Jo Pryce has been teaching pilates for over ten years in Iechydda Gym in Canton, Cardiff. Her pilates classes aim to align, strengthen and stabilise core muscles. During this session, we will focus on mindfulness, and bring our breath and movement aligned. A class to help you to feel refreshed, relaxed and ready for 2021!

21st Jan 11am-1pm

Embrace Yourself, One Pen Stroke at a Time, Grace Quantock

Journaling can be a map to coming home to ourselves, in our own hands.

Maybe you’ve heard of journaling. Perhaps beginning to journal was even your New Year’s Resolution. But how do you actually…start? What do you, you know, write? How do you face the blank page, and what about all the emotions it brings up for you?

Introducing Therapeutic Creative Journaling™ — a self-compassionate, trauma-informed journalling style pioneered by wellness provocateur and dedicated journaller, Grace Quantock. It combines therapeutic writing, art journaling, structured and free-writing journaling styles to help you develop your own organic journaling practice. Therapeutic Art Journaling™ offers you a self-compassionate space you can access at any time. It’s a safe space where you can practice being more and more fully you.

Journaling can help us:

• Find a safe space to contain our emotions
• Figure out decisions by practicing discernment
• Discover our voice and what is truly ours
• Notice painful dynamics or patterns in which we are struggling
• Create in a way that feels contained
• Weed out the ideas and fears that are pushed upon us
• Recognise where and how we need support
• Practice mindfulness in a grounded, embodied way
• Bring a writing practice into our self-care practice
• Cope with a busy life and busy mind
• Manage medical appointments and new information
• Resource ourselves after depleting times
• Develop an accessible daily creative practice
• …and so much more.

Therapeutic Art Journaling™ is like a cup of good coffee with a friend who really gets you, but it’s available anywhere, any time. Even at 3am.

Grace Quantock is a psychotherapeutic counsellor in advance training. She has trained in workshop leadership with best-selling author and workshop leader Jennifer Louden. Grace’s journaling practice has helped carry her through serious illness, grief, and pain. Grace has studied therapeutic art; her practice is inspired by the work of Marion Woodman, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Marlene Schiwy, Aviva Gold, and Cathy Malchiodi.

27th Jan 11am – 1pm

Play Your Way To Resilience, Holly Stoppit

Facilitator, dramatherapist and clown teacher, Holly Stoppit will lead you through a combination of mindfulness meditations, body-based play and creative reflection to help you playfully draw in your resilience for the coming months ahead. 

Holly Stoppit is a facilitator, dramatherapist, clown teacher and devising director, specialising in creating autobiographical semi-improvised comic theatre. Since the first lockdown, Holly has moved all her teaching, facilitation and performance work online and is thoroughly enjoying having the chance to play with people all over the world