Art and Spirituality Community of Practice

Here is a warm invitation to our Art and Spirituality Community of Practice,

written by Sandi Smoker who will be facilitating the online group. 

Sandi served as a Certified Spiritual Care Practitioner with Providence Health Care in Vancouver, BC, and is an Art Therapist candidate with the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute. 

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Welcome to the Arts for Equity blog! 

I am so pleased you found your way here. I invite you to engage with this space, with the ideas and intentions presented here, as if you were striking up a lively conversation with a new friend or colleague. The voices you will encounter here are very human indeed, and I am honoured and eager to extend a spirit of hospitality to you with all the warmth and empathetic presence I can muster, reflecting our mutual interests in advancing equity-oriented arts-based spiritual practices in health and social services.

What is a Community of Practice?

From the very beginning, as the project research goals emerged, the dream of starting an online, national Community of Practice emerged along with them. The hope was to gather like-minded folks from across Canada for exploring and knowledge-sharing around what many of us in healthcare were discovering – that integrating art and spirituality nourishes the whole person. We long to share our findings and hear from others! 

Who is this Community of Practice for?

Experience tells us that teamwork across an interdisciplinary spectrum adds richness to our conversations.  With that in mind, the Community of Practice is open to artists, spiritual care practitioners and students, art therapists, healthcare professionals and students, patient and public partners, educators, social workers, and stakeholders alike. Over the course of the next year, we will hear from co-researchers and contributing team members from across Canada whose expertise in the field will inspire the integration of compassionate creativity whatever your context. 

Why a Community of Practice?

The goals of the group are to: 

• Build a supportive, knowledge-sharing community of interdisciplinary practitioners/students 

• Experience immersion and praxis in arts-based spiritual practices  

• Share and discuss resources  

• Meet our project aims to advance equity-oriented arts-based spiritual practices, along with individual and collective goals 

Our First Online Community of Practice

Factoring in the various time zones, we plan to meet from 12:00-1:00pm PST once per month on Zoom, beginning on November 7.  Our format will include a brief meditation to open, a hands-on arts-based spiritual care activity, time for reflection, one break-out session, and closing. Please join us for our first Arts and Spirituality Community of Practice! 

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Next Community of Practice will be held on:

Thursday, Nov. 7 at 1200 - 1:00 PM PST

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To Register:

Please click here to register for our next Community of Practice.

For further inquiries or to connect with the Arts for Equity Research Team, please email Krista Heide (Krista.Heide@twu.ca).