GROWING FORWARD THROUGH WRITING

GROWING FORWARD THROUGH WRITING : EXPRESSIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS WITH ALLISON MCDONALD ACE

USING WRITING AS A TOOL FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL HEALING

321 Carlaw Avenue, Suite 209, Toronto

What it is:

Growing Forward Through Writing is designed to teach you to use expressive writing as a tool for your own personal healing. Just as one might develop a meditation or yoga practice, expressive writing is a special technique that, once made available to you, can help you cope with stress and emotional upheaval you are currently experiencing, or heal old wounds and clear up patterns that are no longer serving you.

In a safe, supportive environment, you will learn to explore writing in a new way that has nothing to do with style, grammar, spelling or how “good” you are. Under the guidance of of Allison McDonald Ace, trained expressive writing workshop facilitator and published writer, you will be taken through the key steps and exercises of developing your own healing writing practice, that you can take with you and use for your benefit anywhere, anytime.

This workshop does not require any prior experience with writing. It is for anyone pulled to writing in some way, whether you like to journal and are curious about exploring ways of expressing yourself, or are simply intrigued by the idea of starting to write. This is not a class to teach you how to write—this is a class to teach you how to help yourself heal—using pen, paper and mindfulness techniques.

What to bring:

Please bring a notebook and your writing utensil of choice–pen, pencil, feather quill–whatever brings you joy! Please also make sure to wear comfortable clothing.

Which workshop is best for you?

Please choose from the selection and dates below.

Introduction Workshop: Growing Forward Through Writing

If you’ve never experienced expressive or therapeutic writing before, especially in a workshop setting, the Introductory Workshop is the perfect place to start. From there, if you’re interested in continuing to grow forward on your writing journey, have a look through the in-depth, themed workshops for each month and see which one feels right to you at this time in your life.

Dates: March 7, April 11, May 23, June 6, July 11, 2018

Time: 7-9:30 PM

$75 + HST/workshop

SPACES ARE LIMITED

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Growing Forward: In-Depth Workshops

Each month we will be offering a writing workshop built around a specific theme or topic to help you delve further into your healing writing practice and support you in growing forward. The workshops are designed to explore specific experiences that many of us go through at different seasons of life through topics such as our inner child, death and loss, infertility, masculinity and femininity, and much more! Check out the program calendar for the next 6 months to see which of these workshops feels right to you at this time in your life.

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March 28, 7-9:30pm | Finding Your True Power – A Workshop for Men

For so long, men all over the world and in every society and culture have been taught to suppress their emotions and vulnerability for fear of seeming weak. In turn, they have either lived a life of false appearances, or one of shame due to their inability to fit in with society’s expectations of what it means to “be a man”. This workshop is going to challenge you to let go of those constructs and the false protection they’ve offered and dig deep to find the TRUE source of your power–which has nothing to do with outer toughness and everything to do with the courage to understand and explore the truth of your vulnerabilities in order to effectively direct your strength.

$75 + HST/workshop

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April 25, 7-9:30pm | Growing Forward through Infertility

Spring is traditionally a time in nature that is associated with birth, new beginnings and renewal. And yet for many, this time can bring with it the added painful reminder that while everyone around you–even the birds and the bees–seem to be getting pregnant at the drop of a hat, you are not. This is an opportunity to explore the roller coaster of emotions that come with infertility in a safe environment with people going through the same experiences, and begin a process the can help you Grow Forward through them.

$75 + HST/workshop

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May 9, 7-9:30pm | Healing the Mother Wound

Mother’s Day is one of the biggest commercial holidays after Christmas and Thanksgiving. But for many, this holiday is not about cards and flowers and showing your mother how much you care. It can be a deeply emotional time for those whose relationship with their mother is fractured, or for those who have lost a mother, or never even known one. This workshop will provide a gentle, nurturing space to explore the many facets of what Mother’s Day means to you and bring with it a way forward to heal, release and grow forward from what you uncover.

$75 + HST/workshop

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June 20, 7-9:30pm | Reconnecting with Your Inner Child

We all have an inner child. It’s the part of us that gets hurt if we are dismissed or rejected or not given love in a way that runs so much deeper than we understand. In fact, at such times it can sometimes seem as though someone else is living inside of us and reacting. And in a way, that is true. At the same time, that inner child is also the guardian of the simple pleasures and joys that this world has to offer. But if they are forgotten about and left behind in favour of “being an adult” then being an adult becomes a very joyless, thankless experience. This workshop is all about using writing to access the voice of your inner child to find out what it needs, whether that is to be healed and loved, or to be given a place of honour to remind you to have fun!

$75 + HST/workshop

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July 25, 7-9:30pm | Finding Permission for Joy

During the summer months, it’s impossible not to want to be outside more, to shirk our responsibilities and get back to a time when July meant endless hours of just simply playing. And yet with the demands of work and family life in an increasingly competitive world, the ability to give ourselves permission to feel and experience joy instead of knocking off that to-do list or answering the slew of emails waiting for us, seems an impossible task. And yet, loving yourself enough to create space for joy is the most important thing you can do for your mental and emotional wellbeing. This is an opportunity to explore the barriers to feeling joy in service of finding a way to allow it to come in.

$75 + HST/workshop

RESERVE YOUR SPACE

If you have any further questions about these workshops, please contact Dr. Stacy for more information.

CONTACT TO LEARN MORE

About Allison

Allison McDonald Ace wears many hats: mom, expressive workshop facilitator and freelance writer. She has written for a variety of Canadian publications on health, lifestyle and parenting topics and is also co-founder of The 16 Percent, an online space dedicated to providing a platform for people to share their stories of miscarriage and infertility to help remove shame and stigma surrounding these experiences.

Learn More about Allison