Stuff to do while social distancing during COVID-19

Right now, we are experiencing a global COVID-19 pandemic which is causing most people to practice social distancing as an effort to flatten the curve. Epidemiologists are telling us, if you can stay home, stay home. Cancel everything. This is not possible for everyone, of course. But it is possible for me to help flatten the curve and work toward protecting community well-being as a therapist through video, or “teletherapy.” In many ways, this is heartwrenching. The relationships I have with the people I work with are based on presence, on artmaking, on the subtle expression through body movement that is easier to detect in person. I look forward to seeing the people I work with, welcoming them into my warm studio space, and offering them tea.

Suddenly, I am instead welcoming people to therapy through the click of a button and a couple of screens. While it has its drawbacks, it is offering something new: a shared experience of resiliency and adaptation during tough times. An opportunity to self-reflect on why video therapy was not already an option for increasing access for disabled people. A chance to see the plants and pets and makeshift art supplies in your space instead of mine (speaking of pets, my cat Jane has made more than one video art therapy appearance). A chance to not rush around commuting— to allow for space.

Beyond teletherapy, what can help us get us through this time? I am starting to collect resources of stuff to do while we are at home. I categorized them, so we can mindfully think about which type of care we need in each moment. I anticipate editing this as I find more. If you have ideas, get in touch. Updated 3/25/20.

Absorb art.

Neil Gaiman offers free stuff.

Metropolitan Opera free streaming.

The African-American Art Shaping the 21st Century.

Take a musuem virtual tour.

Free catalogue of Indigenous films.

Free livestreams from Center for Puppetry Arts

Audible Stories - free kid/youth audiobooks.

Free video of Broadway plays.

National Film Board of Canada has 4,000 free streaming titles.

Chicago Public Library online resources.

Full length dance performance archive through Columbia College Chicago.

A list of virtual concerts.

The Social Distancing Festival.

Faces of Frida.

Search youtube and instagram for comedy, music…

Make art.

Lunch doodles with Mo Willems.

Art at home.

Lynda Barry teaches you how to draw.

Swear word coloring pages for adults.

Sew CDC-compliant face masks for staff.

Comics workshops.

The Art Assignment: introduces you to innovative artists, presents you with assignments, and explores art history through the lens of the present.

Artists, this is what we train for.

Make a movie using your phone.

Write, make comics, make stuff out of whatever you can find in your home, build a fort.

And countless craft tutorials on youtube…

Share stories.

COVID-19 Comics.

Another collection of COVID comics.

Disability Visibility Project.

The COVID-19 Chronicles.

#quarantinefiction

Archive your story.

Learn.

JSTOR makes database accessible to the public.

UIC library free online resources.

Skype a scientist.

NASA makes entire media library accessible.

10 university art classes you can take for free online.

Ten free e-books from Haymarket books.

Yale offers The Science of Well-Being Class for free.

Brush up on your sex ed.

Guggenheim releases over 200 modern art books online for free.

Experience nature.

Virtual national park tours.

Garfield Park Conservatory digital tour.

Birding is the perfect social distancing activity.

Virtual garden tours.

Take a walk. Look at the sky. Look at the lake.

Cope.

Care for your Coronavirus anxiety.

Ground.

Quarantine tips from my cat.

Free yoga livestream.

Mental health & COVID-19.

How communities are coping during coronavirus.

youtube or on-your-own yoga, dance, stretch, move, exercise, meditate.

Support/get support.

Chicago COVID-19 Mutual Aid Volunteer Sign-up

COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund for LGBTQI+ BIPOC folks

Rogers Park Community Response Team.

Ways to support Rogers Park small businesses.

Free internet.

Reach out to friends, make a phone call, write a letter.

Disrupt racism.

Coronavirus fears show how ‘model minority’ Asian Americans become the ‘yellow peril’

Disrupt ableism.

Disabled oracles and the Coronavirus.

Podcast.

Corona community.

11 podcasts feminists should listen to while social distancing.

How to survive the end of the world.

Play.

Free games to download.

Improvise over video chat with friends.

Zoom karaoke with friends.

Feel your feelings.

That discomfort you’re feeling is grief.

What do we lose when we stop touching each other?

Hope.

Artists developed an app that allows strangers in quarantine to talk to each other.

Rogers Park mother and son paint rocks to spread positivity during Coronavirus pandemic.

Quebecers are putting rainbows on windows for people to find during walks.

Sign up to receive daily Storycorps stories to lift your spirits.

Dolphins and swans appear in Venice canals during quarantine.

Do nothing.

Slow down, practice stillness, make food, move your body, show the people you love that you love them, allow yourself to not be productive.

The case for doing nothing.

And the New York Times has lots more…

Comics, community, and the acupunk

Next Friday, July 28th, I am co-facilitating The Tao of Art workshop II: Comics! with Sonny from Purple Cloud Center for Eastern Medicine. During our last workshop I was incredibly moved by the participants creating together in community. I can't wait to learn more from Sonny about Taoism, practice meditation, and see what wild or sad or funny or weird stories we can tell through words and pictures. You can learn more about Sonny here, but I have to add to his bio that I like to call him "the acupunk" based on his sweet musical taste and style. If you want to come, we would love to have you. No experience needed. Click here to reserve your spot.

Comics are powerful. Last week I had the honor of leading a comics workshop at Artworks, a drop-in community artmaking space at the Harold Washington Library. Here's a little about Artworks from the library's website:

"The mission of ArtWorks is to cultivate inclusive communities through the arts and cultural exchange. Our aim is to foster the development of understanding and compassion between people, despite social and cultural differences. ArtWorks programs are based on the beliefs that the arts belong to everyone, and that collective art making practices promote respect for difference and inspire positive social change."

I thought maybe 6 or 7 people would show up for the workshop, but just before it began, ten people were around the table... then twenty.... then thirty! We pushed tables together, grabbed extra paper and pens, and started drawing! It reminded me of just how accessible comics are. You only need paper and pencil or pen. It might seem intimidating to think of how to tell a visual story, but with a little structure and support the ideas start to flow. Check out Artworks on the 8th floor of Harold Washington, every Wednesday 4:30-7:30-- free!

What I'm reading

One of my favorite things about being an art therapist is that I never stop learning. While technically a requirement of maintaining licensure, through continuing education credits, learning is really so much more than that. 

I learn from each person I meet, whether in individual therapy, a group, a community-building setting, supervision, or in my teaching practice. I learn by listening. I also learn by reading. It seems like each time I have a new client or have a meaningful conversation with a friend I am inspired to read or re-read another book, which then feeds back into my conversations and my art therapy practice. This is a photo I took today of all the books I am currently reading or re-reading. A mix of non-fiction and fiction, of comics and prose. A mix of subjects including cartooning, grief and loss, gender and sexuality, HIV/AIDS, neurodiversity, cancer, end-of-life, death, slavery, history, feminism, trauma, joy, and creativity. You know, life.

I will never stop learning. But perhaps I should impose a moratorium on buying books for a while...

What is art therapy?

The simplest way to put it is, art therapy is like talk therapy, plus artmaking.* Let's say you want to work on identifying problematic relationship patterns, processing grief/loss, or even coping with stress or fear due to the political climate! Have you ever felt that you can talk and talk about a problem, but nothing changes? Art therapy provides a way for you to take control of your story. You are the creator of meaning in your own life. Whether you think of yourself as an artist or not, adding a nonverbal form of expression to talking things through can increase your understanding of yourself, others, and your community. 

I field the "What is art therapy?" question nearly every time I tell someone what I do. There is no shame in not knowing! Do you have questions about what art therapy looks like? Contact me, and I'll be happy to discuss them with you.

*I'm referring to individual art therapy/counseling in this context. Art therapy can also look like activism, community-building, group work, and more!