Thirty-three creativity driven workshops designed to help people connect with their creativity and assess their wellbeing will be held on the Coast in October and November.
An initiative of local organisation, Salus Creatives, the Creative Wellbeing Project will see 28 free to attend and five low cost ticketed workshops take place at Wyoming, Point Clare, Green Point and Woy Woy, Wyong, Watanobbi and San Remo from October 28 to November 22.
The workshops will be spearheaded by community figures, creatives and leading experts, and cover a range of topics including psychology, visual arts, meditation and poetry. Salus Creative Director, Elio Gatti, said the Project was commissioned to ensure that locals had an outlet to frame discussions regarding mental health and general wellbeing in a creative setting.
“The figures on mental health in Australia are alarming, especially because they are increasing with time. “According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in any one year, one in five Australians aged 16-85 experiences a common mental disorder (Australia’s Health 2014).
“The most common forms of mental disorders are anxiety, depression and substance dependency.
“Keeping our mind and spirit active and healthy is just as important as keeping our body fit, and when it comes to mind and spirit, there is nothing better than creativity, ” Gatti said.
A full program of events including session leaders, class times and locations is available on the Salus Creative website. Gatti said classes were being kept intentionally small to ensure participants were able to get the most out of their experience and that registration, even for the free events, was essential.
Source: Media release, Oct 15 Elio Gatti, Salus Creative