I would like to share my mission, my "WHY," about creating enriched possibilities: Resiliency Art Empowerment.

As Simon Sinek described the "Golden circle: WHY-WHAT-HOW" for business, he explained how people connect to your WHY more than everything else. An entrepreneur must know his/her why to be able to share it.

In this first blog post, I want to share my WHY behind my mission and my business.

Art has always been present in my professional life to create an experience of playfulness or open a conversation.

Dance, drawing, and painting have always been a way to express myself and connect with others. I remember my first experience as a psychology student at an old psychiatric hospital in the suburb of Paris. Adults were highly medicated or locked in their rooms. Others were walking, wandering in corridors, trapped in their own world.

I was feeling powerless about how I could make a connection with them. So, I started to bring papers and crayons, and I would sit at a table in the middle of the hospital hall and draw. Some adults joined me and would talk, and some would not; we were sharing a moment of creativity.

In my research for my Master's in Psychology, I studied children's drawings while doing therapy by fairytales. My Master's research in Art therapy was about using fabric in dance to create connections between patients and health care workers.

As a young psychologist for the ministry of justice for teenagers, sharing a moment of drawing has often helped me open a conversation with teenagers in difficult situations.

When I came to Canada from Mexico wondering what would be the next step in my career, I remembered telling a career advisor, "One day, I would love to create my own tool for professionals where I could integrate all of my personal and professional experiences.

Life gave me the opportunity:

When I suffered from the traumatic experience of the separation from the father of my children, painting came back into my life. I started to paint again to reconnect with myself. Along with intense therapy, art has helped me these last few years to process and to heal.

Art has strengthened my resiliency.

When I found the girl, I found a metaphor, and I found my idea about creating a tool (follow the story in the next newsletter !)

I felt so empowered!

I paint to reconnect with myself, to feel joy and empowerment!

I paint to connect with others, create conversations so they can feel empowered too.

I want my business to create enriched possibilities of empowerment and resiliency via art and coaching conversations.

I want to inspire others to use art as a pathway to resiliency.

And as my wise therapist, Dr Bea Mackay. told me one day: "Are you waiting to be retired to transform the legacy of women and art in your family? Art isn't just a hobby like my grandmother or my mother. Art can be a thriving business!"

Through many of the books I have read, my research in therapy and the journeys I have experienced I came to meet The Girl. Follow my blog to learn how.

Helene