KASIA KOWALSKA
YOUR
HEALING
ARTS
Clay Arts Expression
nature based inclusive fun interactive
empowering educational calming
'When we do not have words to convey our sensations, feelings, or thoughts,
we cannot simply 'name it to tame it.'
But we can use implicit communication- movement, rhythm, sound, image, enactment, and play- to 'express it to address it.' This is the transformative and restorative role of expressive arts, to provide a voice when language is unavailable or impossible."
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-Cathy Maichlodi, PhD-The Body Holds the Healing
This hands-on approach taps into the primal human need for tactile experiences, a fundamental need for sensory engagement, allowing us to explore and express emotions in a tangible way. As we mould the clay, we’re not just creating art we’re sculpting our inner landscapes, giving shape to feelings that often elude verbal expression.
The therapeutic use of clay dates back to ancient civilizations, which utilized it for both practical applications and healing rituals.
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A Sense of Belonging Invites Inner Peace & Balance
Exploring art together with the main five senses, this workshop aims to guide participants to be aware of their unique talents,
feel a sense of belonging & being accepted in this world.
It is a space to experience inner balance within a safe and a non-judgemental surrounding.
To support individuals in reconnecting within a world of wonder and resounding relaxation.
Children
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Art gives children a visual language when words feel hard to find
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Supports emotional awareness and vocabulary development
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Helps regulate the nervous system through sensory engagement
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Provides a calm, safe space to externalize feelings
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Helps develop fine motor skills
Adults
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Offers a non-verbal outlet for emotions
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Supports reflection and meaning-making without pressure to explain
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Encourages ritual through symbolic imagery or abstract work
Groups with Disabilities
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Makes emotional expression more accessible across abilities
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Encourages confidence, autonomy, and a sense of accomplishment
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Reduces reliance on verbal communication
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Fosters peer connection and inclusive group participation
Older Adults & Elders
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Stimulates neurogenesis and cognitive flexibility through creative engagement
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Supports memory recall and storytelling through visual expression
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Fosters a sense of identity, purpose, and legacy
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Reduces isolation by encouraging connection and group interaction
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Helps process transitions, loss, and life review in a creative, dignified way
Women's Circles
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Creates a sacred space for reflection, creativity, and storytelling
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Helps explore identity, life transitions, and inner growth
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Encourages authentic sharing and group cohesion
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Facilitates intuitive, process-based expression
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Clay expression becomes a bridge: between emotion and insight, between people and their stories, between what's inside and what's ready to be expressed, shared with the world!
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Participants will have sensorial fun experimenting with clay, enjoy many creative activities, connect with nature and at the same time engage within a space that supports who they are.
Re-discovering their hidden strengths and special gifts that may be suppressed, regain a feeling of acceptance for their uniqueness in the way they view life.
Neurodiversity-affirming or “neuro-affirming” practices and models emphasize that there is diversity in human cognition, emotions, behaviour, senses, and being. The term neurodiversity first emerged in the 1990s when Judith Singer used it to describe the natural variations in human brain development that result in differences in behaviour, cognition, affect, perception, and communication (Singer, 2017). Along with the concept of neurodiversity, other terms are now commonly used, such as neurotypical and neuronormative.
Neurodivergent arts expression is a practice that utilizes creative expression through art to support the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of neurodivergent individuals. It provides a non-verbal avenue for expression, which can be particularly helpful for those who may struggle with verbal communication or find traditional therapy/learning settings challenging or overwhelming.​​
​​About my workshops specifically for clients with ADHD.
Being diagnosed with ADHD myself has given me a sense of liberation from constant negative self- talk but more importantly, it provided me with precious information about how my brain operates. Mindfulness has been a huge steppingstone in my journey to more balanced and harmonious life and that includes working with clay.
ADHD is characterized by difficulties with attention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity. ADHD motivators are interest, novelty, urgency, passion, and challenge. In comparison, for neurotypical people, the motivators are rewards, importance and consequence. ADHD fascinates me and as I was doing my research on it, I came across Dr Edward Hallowell.
Being a neurodivergent, it has become his lifelong mission to educate and help people like us live more fulfilling life. In his book ‘ADHD explained’
Dr Halwell says that ADHD is a misleading term because, we who have ADHD do not suffer from deficit of attention, but for an abundance of it. This is important because it was quickly picked up and addressed by our group members as we worked with clay.
I was told that feeling clay in their hands helped to make them feel at ease, and that they were able to ‘gather their thoughts’ (HUGE FOR US!).
One lady said, she felt like the Clay became extension of her fingers, and the shapes and elements evolved organically without any thoughts or effort, and that really surprised her. She felt more connected to herself, and it gave her joy.
Another lady said that the clay felt malleable and cold and it was pleasant to touch. It made her feel just right, in the moment. There was no other place to be, nothing particular to achieve or no particular way to ‘perform’. She felt liberated. Working with Clay helped her bring herself into the moment while in a creative space.
Another lady said that she enjoys Clay as she feels she doesn’t have to think about it and she can just see what becomes. She felt it was relaxing and nice listening to people chat as we were all doing creations and it was lovely being together in shared experience. Another lady
confirms that. She felt like she didn’t have to completely focus on what she was doing. We were talking, asking questions, listening to answers, while our hands were moving and creating. Another person said about her experience that feeling the clay in her hands helped her to make her feel at ease, and fiddling with Clay helped her to remember what she was going to say while listening to other 's experiences.
This is huge because being distracted, forgetting what we want to say, often interrupting others in fear that we will lose our line of thoughts can be an everyday struggle for a person with ADHD.
Those workshops are rich in deep and meaningful conversation as well as in creating many different creations.
The sense of belonging, especially when we feel anyway different, can be difficult thing to navigate.
Brene Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, author of several books, creator of her authorial leadership programs, public speaker studies the concept of belonging. “The opposite of belonging is fitting in. Fitting in is assessing and acclimating.
‘Here is what I should say/be, here is what I shouldn’t say, here is what I should avoid talking
about, here’s what I should dress like/look like,’ that’s fitting in. Belonging, is belonging to yourself first,” says Dr. Brown in ‘The call to courage’ documentary. I hope I am able to offer this at our workshops...even for a few moments!