Creative Healing Centre

Are you facing a life change? Are you feeling stuck? Would you like some support to get clear and help you to move forward? Do you want more joy, passion, fulfillment and peace in your life?

You may have lost your job. You may be thinking about or in the midst of a life transition such as a new career, retirement, becoming a parent, dealing with separation, divorce, a health challenge or a child leaving home. You may be unhappy and feeling "there must be more to life than this!" If so, the services and support provided by the Creative Healing Centre may be for you.

Welcome to the Creative Healing Centre - a virtual organization where coaching, healing and the arts come together. We specialize in helping people get "unstuck", identify and live their dreams, move gracefully through life transitions and not only cope with change, but use this change to transform their lives in positive ways. We have a team of skilled professional coaches that enables us to match clients up with a coach with particular expertise in their transition.

We offer a range of products and services that assist people on their transition journeys/to navigate change. They include: assessments, creative healing plans tailored to each person's unique needs that integrate the arts; such as creative writing, painting and dance, with alternative therapies; such as yoga, meditation, and massage. We also offer one-on-one and group coaching (face-to-face and over the phone), telesminars/webcasts and other educational resources and events.

Sign up for free "Transition Tips" - periodic email tips for people facing life transitions/wanting to make positive life changes. Contact us for a complimentary coaching session.

Browse our resource library where you may find and order books and DVDs on a variety of topics from “transitions and how to cope with them” to “unleashing your creativity” and yoga and meditation. Sign up for one of our free Teleseminars. Check out the Creative Healing Assessment Tool and obtain a Creative Healing Plan specifically tailored to your needs.

Stay tuned for upcoming programs and events such as our free  Teleseminars/Webcasts and our Group Coaching programs (offered over the phone or face-to-face) such as  "Discovering Your Passion and Finding the Career of Your Dreams" or "From Professional Working Woman to New Mom: What the Heck Happened?"

Thanks for visiting our virtual Centre. Hope to see you back soon!

Pam Thompson, BN, MSc. - Founder, CHC & CEO, Creative Life Coaching Inc.

Healing to us is a personal process that results in restoring health, harmony and balance to the body, mind and spirit. Creativity “is the soul of our being and our highest form of living. It is the presence inside all of us that relentlessly longs for expression. It needs your ruthless perseverance to be actualized.” (Kyra and Derksen, 2008, Welcome Home to Yourself)

Reconnecting with your right brain by taking up something you may have enjoyed as a child, or trying an artistic pursuit that is completely new; such as pottery, can help you connect with and tap into your creative side. Many people’s experience of water colour painting, throwing on a wheel and drawing; for example, makes them feel relaxed, focussed (takes their mind off work) and in some cases, like a child at play.

Alternative modalities such as yoga and meditation, assist in balancing our energy, slowing us down and helping us to “go within” and “get in touch” with what is really important to us. This is particularly crucial during life transitions. A growing body of research provides evidence of the mind-body-spirit connection and of the benefits of alternative therapies and artistic pursuits. Undertaking creative pursuits and working with various alternative healing modalities and practitioners helps us to better connect our minds, bodies and spirits and to feel healthier, more energized, happier and at peace.

Searching through the various alternative modalities, practitioners and artistic pursuits, can be time consuming and overwhelming. The Creative Healing Centre assists you in quickly identifying alternative modalities, practitioners and artistic pursuits that may assist you in moving more quickly and easily through a life transition and also to find more balance and fulfillment in your life. (Taking the Creative Healing Assessment and getting a customized Creative Healing Plan can assist you to move forward more quickly)

Coaching, which comes in a variety of forms and “flavours”, is from our perspective, a professional relationship in which the coach assists people to navigate transitions, find balance in their lives, as well as produce exceptional results. The coach assists the person being coached to gain more clarity and move forward/take action more quickly. A coach can help you unleash your inner power/achieve your potential. All of our coaches are professionally trained and subscribe to the values of the Creative Healing Centre (refer to Mission and Values under “About Us” tab). For information about our coaching packages contact us a info@creativehealingcentre.ca.

We enable and support, people in transition and those wanting more fulfilling, balanced, happy and healthy lives, to create their best lives ever by providing tools, coaching, and educational programs and resources tailored to their unique needs.

Our Values

1. We are all creative beings with unique gifts
2. We all have the right to personal and professional fulfillment
3. Balancing the left and right brain is essential to becoming/being whole and healthy
4. Being healthy includes being in balance and at peace
5. Linking artistic pursuits with alternative types of healing promotes and supports health and wellness
6. Connecting with ourselves and with others is nurturing and growth-producing
7. Getting in touch with our creative selves leads to wholeness.

Pam Thompson, B.N., MSc. has a broad background and experience working as a health care provider, university professor and consultant, in Canada at the federal and regional levels, and internationally in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. She is a certified professional facilitator and is also trained as a life and business coach.

Pam enjoys working with people from all walks of life. She has worked at the grassroots level doing community development and health promotion with campesinos (peasant farmers) in the mountains of Colombia, South America; with people living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan; and with health providers and senior government officials in a number of countries. Since a child, she has had a keen interest in people, travel and cultures around the world. When she did her graduate work at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in the early 1980s, she researched beliefs and practices surrounding health and illness in a variety of cultures and became particularly interested in those of China and India. She does yoga, meditates and journals regularly, writes and paints. Pam has a passion for supporting and inspiring others to be the best they can be.

If you are open to learning about life transitions or would like some support to manage a transition; if you are interested in learning about various non-traditional approaches to health and healing and interested in “getting in touch” with your creative side, Pam invites you to become part of the Creative Healing Centre community.

All of us, during our lives, go through a number of transitions or major life changes. They may be related to our jobs, careers, relationships or physical moves (from one city to another or one country to another). They may be perceived as positive, such as a job promotion or a child going off to university; or negative, such as the loss of a job, divorce or the death of a loved one.

William Bridges in “Transitions - Making Sense of Life’s Changes” (2004), makes a useful distinction between “change” and “transition”. He views “change” as situational and external; such as moving to a new city or becoming a parent. In contrast, he views “transition”, as psychological or internal. Transitions, he emphasizes, are the internal “work” that helps us to re-orient and re-define ourselves and incorporate external changes into our lives.

Research and life experience shows that if we don’t do the internal “transition” work, then we often recreate the same patterns in our lives. An example is someone who after 4 marriages, on reflection, realizes he has married 4 different women who are similar (they may even resemble one another) and has dealt with the same issues in each marriage, never resolving them but rather recreating them and remaining unhappy. So, in order to move forward and become fulfilled, we need to take time in each transition, to do the work that will enable us to grow and change past patterns that aren’t serving us.

Bridges in his more than thirty years of work with individuals and organizations has identified three stages for all life transitions. They are: 1) an ending; 2) a neutral zone; and 3) a new beginning (p. 4). The main “work” of the initial “ending” stage is “letting go” of the past and celebrating the positive aspects of it.

The main work of the neutral zone is “getting clear”. It is a difficult stage for many of us as when we enter this stage we may feel stuck, confused, depressed; unsure of what to do next. It is important in the “neutral zone” to review what we have learned from the job or relationship (e.g. what worked and what didn’t) and think about how we would like to change things/do things differently in the future. This is a time to reconnect with ourselves – to identify things we have never done and would like to try, or did as a child and enjoyed ; and begin doing them (e.g. signing up for dance classes, painting classes, creative writing classes). During the neutral zone it is important to nurture ourselves – do things we really enjoy such as spending time in nature, getting a massage, taking a bubble bath ... . Connecting with others is also important. Reaching out for advice and support to a coach or counsellor may also be helpful during this stage.

The “new beginning” stage is when we take action on what we want in our lives/what we got clear on in the “neutral zone”. This can be a time of transformation (likened to a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon); when we let go of old fears and walk or run courageously into the future; the bright one we have chosen.

Our assessment tool and creative healing plans assist people in embracing transitions, and our coaches specialize in assisting people to move through the “neutral zone” to “new beginnings”. For additional information on various life transitions and tips for moving through them/navigating them, we invite you to sign up for one of our teleseminars (under development). If you have questions about a particular life transition,  please send them to info@creativehealingcentre.ca . They will assist us in developing future articles, programs and services that are tailored to your needs.

We offer a range of products and services from assessment tools, to creative healing plans, one-on-one and group coaching, and educational programs and resources, as well as evidence on the benefits of various approaches.

We suggest the following flow:

1. Fill in the assessment tool (for more details see Assessment Tool tab). Note that your confidentiality will be protected. Based on your responses, we will provide you with a Creative Healing Plan, specifically tailored to your needs, that integrates alternative therapies such as: yoga, meditation and massage; with the arts such as: creative writing, painting, pottery and dance. The Creative Healing Plan will be emailed to you.
2. Following receipt of the Creative Healing Plan, one of our professionals will follow up with a telephone call to answer any questions you may have, to assist in choosing the options best suited to your needs and to assist you in implementing your plan.
3. Ongoing coaching and support may be provided (if desired) to assist you in taking action. For information about our one-on-one coaching packages CLICK HERE.

• Fact sheets on the various therapies ‘prescribed’ (such as the “benefits of yoga”) to provide evidence on the recommended therapies and artistic pursuits
• Tip sheets on how to identify and choose an appropriate alternative practitioner
• A resource library of suggested resources; as well as books, CDs and DVDs available for purchase
• Teleseminars/Webcasts on such topics as: Embracing Life's Transitions, Getting over a Significant Relationship and Attracting the Partner of Your Dreams, Tapping into Your Creativity, and The Arts and Health.

Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way – A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1992.

Gregory, Danny. The Creative License – Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are. New York: Hyperion, 2006.

McNiff, Shaun. Trust the Process An Artist's Guide to Letting Go. Shambhala Publications, 1998.

SARK. Make Your Creative Dreams Real. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004.

McCall, Timothy. Yoga as Medicine – The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing. New York: Bantam Books, 2007.

Stewart, Mary. Yoga Over 50 – The Way to Vitality, Health and Energy in the Prime of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

White, Ganga. Yoga Beyond Belief – Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2007.

Sparrow, Linda & Patricia Walden. The Woman's Book of Yoga & Health. Boston: Shambhala, 2002.
 

Davich, Victor. The Best Guide to Meditation. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998.

Nguyen, Anh-Huong & Thich Nhat Hanh - Walking Meditation. Sounds True Inc., 2006.

Alexander, Jane. The Holistic Therapy File. London: Carlton Books, 2001.

Honervogt, Tanmaya. The power of Reiki – An Ancient Hands-On Healing Technique. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1998.

Kabat-Zinn, John. Full Catastrophe Living – Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York: Bantam Dell, 2005.

Mate, Gabor. When the Body Says No. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004.

Hallowell, Edward. Connect – 12 Vital Ties that Open Your Heart, Lengthen Your Life, and Deepen Your Soul. London: Pocket Books, 1999.

Jamal, Azim and McKinnon, Harvey. The power of giving – How Giving Back Enriches Us All. London: Penguin, 2008.

Ken Wilber, Terry Patten et al. A 21st Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening. Integral Books, 2008.

Bridges, William. Transitions – Making Sense of Life’s Changes. Cambridge: Da Capo Books, 2004.

McClelland, Carol. The Seasons of Change – Using Nature’s Wisdom to Grow Through Life’s Inevitable Ups and Downs. Berkeley: Conari Press, 1998.

Kyra, Suzanne and Derksen, Nathan. Welcome Home to Yourself. Vancouver: Relationships Matter Publishing, 2008.