1. Presented by Ruth Sager
Creative Coping: Unpacking adversity & creative practices in self-care.
Presented by Ruth Sager

2. Ruth Sager
Ruth Sager is Program Director at Creatively Ruthless. Ruth has devoted herself to working in and with communities through creative mentorship. She takes pride in facilitating transformative artistic experiences in public, private, social and civic sectors. Ruth has trained over 5,000 volunteers, teaching artists, social service staff and educators to bring healing arts programs to over 80,000 young people that have experienced the trauma/toxic stress of abuse, neglect and homelessness. She is a certified trainer in the Youth Quality Programs Assessment tool, Kids at Hope and Art Heals methods. She teaches and presents nationally on artistic programming, creative community development, youth development, trauma informed practice, mentorship and leadership.

3. Todays goals
Discuss the brevity of adversity and how it effects everyday connection
Identify behaviors found within ourselves and our neighbors that help us develop connect
Explore creative tools to mitigate the biologically programmed reactions that hold us back from making connection.

4. I may have experience but I also know we have some experts in the room.
I believe that we are stronger together and encourage you to share your insights as they come.

5. Adversity vs. Toxic Stress
About to talk about Prolonged stress = toxic stress

7. ACE Study Details: Agencies involved Dr. Vincent Felitti
Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Preventive Medicine in San Diego
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
San Diego State University
Dr. Vincent Felitti
More than 17,000 participants
Middle Class, College-Educated, White Americans
Standard physical examination & Surveys about family health history
Origins Training & Consulting

9. More Symptoms of toxic stress
What did we learn from the ACES Study??? Higher the dose =
More Symptoms of toxic stress

10. Origins Training & Consulting
Out of 100 People
These are the symptoms

11. Fight, Flight, Freeze Whole Body Response Relax, Recover, Restore
Origins Training & Consulting
Whole Body Response
Fight, Flight, Freeze
Relax,
Recover,
Restore
Stress is a whole body response.

12. Toxic stress puts the lizard in charge!
Safety 
CHOICE!!
“Keep it Real”
Learn
Connect with others
Empathy/ Compassion
Understanding
Questions/Critically think
Origins Training & Consulting

13. LIZARD SELF

14. Your lizard What behaviors do you have when you are stressed?
What qualities do you have that folks told you were negative?
What reactions are you less than proud of having?

15. How humans regulate stress
What are the daily things that you do for you?
What are the things you do to bring yourself into control?
The good, the bad, the ugly.

16. Our neighbor’s lizard
What are the behaviors that your neighbors exhibit when you are attempting to help them but they are too stressed?
How do you respond?
How can we help?

17. Muscle Memory
Origins Training & Consulting

18. Empathy

19. Our neighbor’s lizard: How to help
Be empathetic.
See the world as others see it. Take in their perspective.
Be nonjudgmental.
Understand another person's feelings and communicate your understanding of their feelings.

20. Our neighbor’s lizard: How to help
What empathy does not look like:
Sympathy
Gasp and awe
The mighty fall
The block and tackle
The boots and shovel
If you think that’s bad…

21. Our neighbor’s lizard: How to help
Be empathetic.
Help them understand that their reactions are normal.
Brain storm ways to process their experience.
Check in and remember their experience.

22. RELATIONSHIPS + Skills = RESILIENCE PEOPLE + Art = HEALING

24. Expectations Be BRAVE There are no mistakes in art Respect Have fun
It’s not about the product, trust the process
Respect
Don’t interrupt another person’s process
Have fun

25. I am activity
Poetry and connection cards

26. I like… I notice… I wonder…
Final Reflection
I like… I notice… I wonder…

27. Resources
Bronfenbrenner Ecological Systems Theory Center for Child and Community Development Center of the Developing Child, Harvard University Dr. Sandra Bloom. The Sanctuary Model Felitti, Vincent et al. ACE Study. Journal of American Medicine International Association of Trauma Professionals SAMSHA- Trauma Informed Approach and Systems Dare to Lead, Brene Brown 2018 Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona’s Mentor Training Images: unless otherwise cited, images come from dreamstime stock images Andi Fetzner Lori Robinson

28. Angela.Ruth.Sager@gmail.com Creatively Ruthless 602-499-0753