Creative Therapy Circle - Art Workshops In-Person in Bayside
Discover the power of art therapy with in-person workshops on Saturdays at Cheltenham Community Centre, Melbourne. Join the Creative Therapy Circle to explore creative expression, reduce stress, and foster self-discovery in a supportive environment. No art experience needed—start your journey today!
Voice Before Performance — Online Writing & Art Therapy Workshop
Write your own story as a poem, with yourself as the hero — or as someone else entirely.
Most of us have a performing voice: the one that explains, manages and keeps things smooth. Underneath it is a plainer voice that says what is actually true.
In this session we write a poem-story of yourself — as the hero, or as another character entirely. Writing in character is a side door. It lets you say things straight out that would be hard to say as yourself, and it tends to arrive at something honest much faster than talking does.
What you write here becomes the raw material for Re-emergence Oracle the following week, so this one is worth catching.
What the session looks like
· A short grounding practice to arrive
· Guided prompts to find your character and your voice
· Writing your poem-story, with no pressure to make it good
· An invitation to read aloud, which is entirely optional
What to bring: paper and a pen, or type it if you prefer.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No writing experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$30 · One of nine Saturdays in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all four online sessions for $80, or come to this one on its own.
Re-emergence Oracle — Make Your Own Oracle Cards in Cheltenham
Build three oracle cards from your own story, and draw guidance that came from nowhere but you.
What if the guidance you are looking for is already inside your own story?
You write a short poem-story of yourself, then build three oracle cards from it. The cards draw on whatever speaks to you: the elements, your ancestors, or your own inner direction. By the end of the morning you hold three images that came from nowhere but you.
People often find these cards keep working long after the session ends. They become something to return to when a decision is unclear.
This is the third in-person gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle. If you joined Voice Before Performance on 7 November, bring what you wrote — and if you did not, you will write fresh on the day.
What the morning looks like
· Arriving, settling, and a short grounding practice
· Writing your story as a poem — no writing experience needed
· Making three oracle cards from what you wrote
· Drawing a card, and sitting with what it offers
· A reflective close
What to know: all materials are provided, and you take your three cards home. Tea and a warm welcome included.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$75 · 10 places · One of five in-person gatherings in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all five in-person gatherings for $420, or come to this one on its own.
The Void — Online Art Therapy Workshop on Who, What, Why and Where
Sit with the four questions underneath everything: who am I, what am I, why am I, where am I.
There is a particular kind of quiet underneath all our roles and explanations. Some people find it frightening. Others find it the most honest place they know.
In this session we go there on purpose, and we go gently. Through mark-making and written reflection we work with four questions: who am I, what am I, why am I, where am I. You are not asked to answer them. You are asked to feel where they land.
This is the last online gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle, and it is deliberately placed near the end — when there is enough trust in the circle to go quiet together.
What the session looks like
· A longer grounding practice, since this session goes deeper
· Mark-making with no image in mind
· Written reflection on the four questions
· A careful, unhurried close
What to bring: paper, something to draw with, and something to write with.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$30 · One of nine Saturdays in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all four online sessions for $80, or come to this one on its own.
Nature Conversation — Nature Art Therapy Workshop in Cheltenham
Build a self-portrait from leaves, bark, stones and seed pods — then let it go.
Leaves, bark, stones, seed pods, feathers, sand.
You create a self from natural materials — not a likeness, but a portrait made of what you are drawn to pick up. There is something about working with materials you did not buy and cannot control that loosens the grip of making it right. A curled leaf becomes a shoulder. A stone becomes the weight you have been carrying.
The work is temporary, and that is part of it. You photograph what you make, and then let it return to where it came from.
This is the fourth in-person gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle.
What the morning looks like
· Arriving, settling, and a short sensory grounding practice
· Gathering and choosing your materials
· Creating a self from what you have gathered
· Photographing it, and noticing what you made
· A reflective close
What to know: materials are provided, and you are warmly invited to bring something natural that matters to you. Bring your phone or a camera if you would like to keep an image of your work. Tea and a warm welcome included.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$75 · 10 places · One of five in-person gatherings in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all five in-person gatherings for $420, or come to this one on its own.
Fire & Intention — Year's End Art Therapy Ritual in Cheltenham
Release the story of the old self to a contained flame, and set what comes next.
Every term ends at a threshold. This one ends with fire.
We write down the story of the old self — the version of you that this year asked you to outgrow — and release it to a small, contained flame. Then we work with fire divination, reading what the flame leaves behind, and set an intention for what comes next.
If fire is not for you, there is a charcoal and ink alternative that does the same work on paper. You are guided either way, and nothing happens without your say.
This is the final gathering of Return to Self and of The Atlas Creative Circle for 2026. You are welcome whether you have been here all year or this is your first circle.
What the morning looks like
· Arriving, settling, and a grounding practice
· Writing the story of the old self
· A contained fire ritual, or the charcoal and ink alternative
· Fire divination — reading what is left behind
· Setting an intention, and closing the year together
What to know: all materials are provided. The fire is small, contained and fully supervised, and taking part in that element is entirely optional. Wear something you do not mind smelling faintly of woodsmoke. Tea and a warm welcome included.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$75 · 10 places · The last of five in-person gatherings in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all five in-person gatherings for $420, or come to this one on its own.
Visible Self, Hidden Self — Clay Art Therapy Workshop in Cheltenham
Shape one clay figure with two faces: the one you show, and the one you keep.
There is the face we show the world, and the face we keep for ourselves. Most of us move between them so often we stop noticing.
In this session we give both of them form. Working with clay, you shape a single figure with two faces — the façade and the face within — and let your hands say what is hard to put into sentences. Clay is forgiving and direct. It holds pressure, and it remembers touch.
This is the second in-person gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle.
What the morning looks like
· Arriving, settling, and a short grounding practice
· Working with clay to shape one figure with two faces
· Time to notice what each face is carrying
· Reflection, and one small thing to take into your week
What to know: all materials are provided. Clay is messy — wear something you do not mind marking, and bring a small box or bag if you would like to carry your figure home. Tea and a warm welcome included.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$75 · 10 places · One of five in-person gatherings in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all five in-person gatherings for $420, or come to this one on its own.
Pause & Repattern — Neurographic Art Online Workshop
Neurographic drawing to find the small space between what happens and how you react.
Between what happens and how we react, there is a small space. Neurographic drawing is one way of finding it.
The method is simple and absorbing: you let a line wander wherever it wants across the page, then gently round every sharp corner where lines meet. As the corners soften, something in the nervous system tends to soften with them. It asks nothing of you but attention.
Pause & Repattern is the third gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle, and it runs online.
What the session looks like
· A short grounding practice to arrive
· The neurographic method, taught step by step
· Rounding, connecting and colouring your drawing
· Reflection on what eased, and one small thing to carry into your week
What to bring: paper, a black pen or fineliner, and colour of any kind.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$30 · One of nine Saturdays in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all four online sessions for $80, or come to this one on its own.
Anchor the Shadow — Cyanotype Art Therapy Workshop in Cheltenham
Meet the part of you that protects, and make it visible in deep blue through cyanotype sun-printing.
What has this been trying to protect?
We all carry a part of us that steps in to keep us safe: the one that goes quiet, or takes charge, or smooths everything over. It is easy to treat that part as a problem. Here we do something different — we make it visible, and we ask what it has been guarding all this time.
We work with cyanotype, an old sun-printing process that turns light and shadow into deep Prussian blue. You place objects, plants and shapes on light-sensitive paper, let the sun do its work, and watch an image appear that you did not entirely plan. It is a quietly powerful way to look at the protective parts of yourself with more curiosity and less judgement.
This is the first in-person gathering of Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle.
What the morning looks like
· Arriving, settling, and noticing how you are today
· A short grounding practice before we begin
· Cyanotype printing, with all materials provided
· Time to look at what appeared, and what it might be saying
· A reflective close, and one small thing to carry into your week
What to know: all materials are provided. Wear clothes you do not mind marking — cyanotype chemistry stains. Tea and a warm welcome included.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$75 · 10 places · One of five in-person gatherings in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all five in-person gatherings for $420, or come to this one on its own.
Hands of Reciprocity — Online Art Therapy Workshop
Trace your hands to explore what you give, what you receive, and where there is room for you.
Our term opens with the simplest thing you own: your own hand, traced on paper.
Then we notice. What does this hand give easily? What does it find hard to receive? Where, in all of that giving, is there room for you? Reciprocity is not the same as balance, and it is rarely tidy. Drawing it rather than discussing it tends to show you the truth faster.
Hands of Reciprocity opens Return to Self, Term 4 of The Atlas Creative Circle, and it runs online so you can join from anywhere.
What the session looks like
· A short grounding practice to arrive
· Tracing and mapping your hands, guided step by step
· Colour and mark-making to show what flows in and what flows out
· Reflection, and one small thing to carry into your week
What to bring: paper, something to draw with, and any colour you have at home — pencils, pastels, paint or markers all work.
The Atlas is a creative circle for those who carry more than words can hold. In most approaches art is a tool inside a talking frame — in the Atlas, the creative process itself is the therapy. No art experience is needed, and sharing is always your choice. All you need is to arrive.
$30 · One of nine Saturdays in Term 4: Return to Self, running from 10 October to 5 December 2026. Book all four online sessions for $80, or come to this one on its own.
PURPOSE PRACTICE — Turning Insight into Living Commitment
Purpose Practice is the closing online integration workshop of The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, live-streamed worldwide through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Purpose does not have to arrive as a grand mission. Reviewing your Term Three artworks — Present Terrain Map, Belonging Piece, Courage Seal, Inner Navigator Portrait, Guide Print, Vessel of Becoming and Stone Message — you will find the connecting thread and translate it into one small, repeatable values-to-action practice.
You will create your Living Compass Page: your present direction, guiding value, support, boundary, next small action and the sign that recalibration is needed. Live online session with member portal replay. No creative experience required.
Saturday 12 September 2026 · 10:30 – 11:30 am AEST · Online live stream worldwide · $80 per online term (16 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
STONE MESSAGES — Making Inner Wisdom Durable
Stone Messages is an in-person stone painting and archetypal inscription workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne — the embodiment threshold of The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, facilitated through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Some lessons need weight, language and durability. Through grounding by weight and touch, archetype and Strength Card reflection, values mapping and symbolic inscription, you will condense one guiding truth into a message painted onto stone — a grounded object of inner authority you can hold whenever a real choice needs to be made.
You will create your Stone of Inner Authority and speak its message in your own voice within a witnessing circle. No creative experience required. Maximum 10 participants.
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 10:30 am – 12:30 pm · Cheltenham Community Centre, 8 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham VIC 3192 · $65 casual drop-in or $420 full Term Three (8 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
CONTAINER FOR THE SELF — Vessel of Becoming
Container for the Self is an online vessel-making and boundary art therapy workshop in The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, live-streamed worldwide through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Deep insight without containment can become overwhelm. Through container visualisation, box decoration or drawn vessels, inside-and-outside mapping and boundary-language practice, you will create a symbolic container for what is still forming — a boundary that protects without imprisoning.
You will create your Vessel of Becoming and learn a simple containment practice for holding insights until you are ready to act on them. Live online session with member portal replay. Simple home materials. No creative experience required.
Saturday 29 August 2026 · 10:30 – 11:30 am AEST · Online live stream worldwide · $80 per online term (16 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
THE INNER GUIDE IN REVERSE — Lino Print Making
The Inner Guide in Reverse is an in-person lino carving and reverse-image printmaking workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne — the guidance threshold of The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, facilitated through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Reverse-image making requires trust: you carve one surface, and the final print appears reversed. Through active imagination, archetypal guide visualisation and beginner-safe lino or foam printing, you will meet the inner guide that is present in your life right now — animal, archetype, symbol, tool or landscape.
You will create your Guide Print — an image of your current source of guidance — and practise recognising intuitive signals without forcing answers. No printmaking experience required. Maximum 10 participants.
Saturday 22 August 2026 · 10:30 am – 12:30 pm · Cheltenham Community Centre, 8 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham VIC 3192 · $65 casual drop-in or $420 full Term Three (8 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
HIGHER SELF IMAGE — Meeting the Self Already Becoming
Higher Self Image is an online collage and symbolic self-portrait workshop in The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, live-streamed worldwide through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Meet the higher self not as a perfect future identity, but as the wiser part of you that already sees beyond immediate fear, pressure and habit. Through guided future-self encounter, mirror and silhouette reflection, collage self-portraiture and future-self interviewing, you will turn emerging qualities into an image you can live from.
You will create your Inner Navigator Portrait and anchor one emerging quality into a small present-day behaviour. Live online session with member portal replay. Simple home art materials. No creative experience required.
Saturday 15 August 2026 · 10:30 – 11:30 am AEST · Online live stream worldwide · $80 per online term (16 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
ECLIPSE FORGE — The Geometry of Creative Courage
Eclipse Forge is an in-person sacred geometry and art therapy workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne — the ignition threshold of The Atlas Creative Circle Term Three, facilitated through the Active Kreative™ Methodology.
Courage is not the absence of fear. Working with compass-and-ruler sacred geometry, mandala and solar forms, red-gold colour activation and archetypal embodiment of the Creator, you will give creative courage a safe structure — precision holds the nervous system while colour and personal symbolism awaken expression.
You will create your Courage Seal — a personal geometric emblem of the form of courage you wish to practise — supported by grounding, coherent breathing and a witness circle. No creative experience required. Maximum 10 participants.
Saturday 8 August 2026 · 10:30 am – 12:30 pm · Cheltenham Community Centre, 8 Chesterville Road, Cheltenham VIC 3192 · $65 casual drop-in or $420 full Term Three (8 sessions) · Facilitated by Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
BELONGING PUZZLE — Finding Where I Fit Without Disappearing
Belonging Puzzle — Online art therapy workshop with The Atlas Creative Circle. Explore belonging without self-abandonment through collage & symbolic drawing. 1 August 2026 · Live & replay.
WHAT IS ON MY PLATE? — Mapping the Present Terrain
A plate becomes a boundary-container. It represents capacity: what is currently being held, what has been placed there by others, what genuinely nourishes and what continually depletes.
THE COLLAGE BLUEPRINT
The Collage Blueprint — Collage Structure Collage art therapy workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne. Build your next chapter. Term 2 closing session. 27 June 2026 · Valeriya Ogorodnyk.
Winter Solstice Art & Sound Experience
Winter Solstice Art & Sound Experience — St Kilda Subtitle: Gong-led sound bath flowing into a dot painting mandala · 3 hours of nervous system medicine at the year's turning point
SOLSTICE MANDALA
Solstice Mandala — Sacred Geometry Online Solstice mandala & sacred geometry workshop. A threshold ritual for the June Solstice. 20 June 2026 · The Atlas Creative Circle.
THE FLOATING ART
The Floating Art — Marbling Flow Art Suminagashi paper marbling workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne. Story, language & flow art therapy. 13 June 2026 · All materials provided.
Blind Self Portrait
Blind Self Portrait — Blindfold Portrait Online blindfold portrait workshop with The Atlas. Presence without performance. Expressive arts therapy. 6 June 2026 · Live & replay available.
Nature Weaving
Woven from Nature — Nature Weaving Nature weaving therapy workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne. An embodied practice for truth-telling & courage. 30 May 2026 · All levels welcome.
MAPPING YOUR SEASONS
MAPPING YOUR SEASONS Cycle of Life Map — The Atlas Creative Circle Saturday 23 May 2026 · Online Livestream
Which season are you actually in right now — growth, depletion, consolidation, or renewal?
Mapping Your Seasons is an online creative self-reflection workshop inside The Atlas Creative Circle, designed to help you honestly assess where your life is resourced, where it feels stretched, and what needs care next. This session sits within Atlas Term 2, a phase centred on clarity, softening, and reorientation, where participants are supported to move gently from overwhelm into steadier self-awareness through creative and embodied practices
For those who want the ATLAS journey from anywhere — a gentle, steady rhythm of creative mapping and regulation. 16 online sessions across the year. Payment Options: $80 per term
Held after the Taurus New Moon, this session works with themes of stability, values, grounding, and embodied enoughness. Rather than focusing on ideal goals or pressure-based planning, this practice invites you to create a Cycle of Life map — a visual and reflective overview of the season each area of your life is currently in. You will explore your energy, relationships, creativity, money, home, time, and body care, and begin to see what is truly feeding you and what is quietly draining you.
This is not about fixing yourself. It is about honest seeing.
Through a guided grounding check-in, a Cycle of Life wheel, reflective journaling, simple drawing or collage, and a practical values-to-actions template, you will be supported to identify one area of strength, one area that needs repair, and one stabilising action you can take in the week ahead. The Atlas Creative Circle uses the Active Kreative Methodology, a four-stage process of initiation, creation, activation, and affirmation that combines creative expression, presence, reflection, and integration.
This online workshop is ideal for sensitive, intuitive, and high-capacity people who are moving through transition and want a creative, non-verbal, nervous-system-aware way to understand their current life balance. No artistic experience is needed. You do not need to explain everything in words. You only need willingness to arrive as you are.
By the end of the session, you may leave with:
a completed Cycle of Life map
clearer awareness of where life is currently supporting or depleting you
one grounded action for the coming week
a stronger sense of continuity between your inner work and everyday life
This session also serves as a bridge into the next Atlas sanctuary gathering on 30 May 2026, where clarity begins to turn into expansion, voice, desire, and brave truth.
Online livestream + portal access
Part of The Atlas Creative Circle Term 2: Clarity · Softening · Reorientation. The Atlas is described as a hybrid creative field that supports nervous-system regulation, creative exploration, and personal reorientation through both in-person and online sessions.
ROOTS & NEURO Neurographic tree
Roots & Neural Lines — Neurographic Tree Neurographic Tree art therapy workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne. Map your values & growth through drawing. 16 May 2026 · All levels welcome.
BUILD YOUR SYMBOL
Build Your Symbol — Totem Making Online totem-making workshop with The Atlas Creative Circle. Reclaim your identity through creative arts therapy. 9 May 2026 · Live & replay.
Broken Open Kintsugi Art
Broken Open — Kintsugi Art Join Valeriya Ogorodnyk for a Kintsugi art therapy workshop in Cheltenham, Melbourne. Repair, shadow work & creative healing. 2 May 2026.
Sacred Geometry Grounding
You’ll be guided through structured pattern work designed to integrate and stabilise everything explored during the term. Order and repetition bring clarity and containment. You’ll leave with a grounded sense of completion and a clear internal structure to carry forward.
Disappearing Art
This session guides you through creating and then releasing imagery using impermanent materials. The process supports safe letting go without emotional intensity. You’ll leave feeling lighter, complete, and more comfortable releasing what no longer needs to be carried.
Name Reclaiming
You’ll be guided through sound, rhythm, and visual expression to explore your name beyond roles and labels. The process reconnects identity with presence rather than story. You’ll leave with a stronger sense of self-recognition and a renewed relationship with your name as an anchor of identity.
Crossing Boundaries
This workshop guides you through symbolic and embodied exploration of inner limits and transitions. By engaging the body and hands, change is experienced physically rather than intellectually. You’ll leave feeling expanded, clearer about where you stand, and more confident crossing internal edges.
Planting the Seed (Neurographic)
You’ll be guided through flowing line work designed to interrupt overthinking and introduce new patterns. The process allows intention to settle without force or pressure. You’ll leave with a sense of movement, possibility, and a visual anchor for something new beginning to take shape.
Full Body Mapping
This session gently guides you into body awareness and sensory mapping, helping you translate physical sensation into visual form. As attention settles into the body, clarity replaces mental noise. You’ll leave with a deeper sense of grounding and an embodied understanding of what your body is communicating.
Life Constellation
A visual mapping workshop exploring how people, places, and experiences shape your life, offering clarity through relational and systemic insight.
Inner Compass Mandala
A guided creative workshop to clarify values, inner direction, and decision-making through symbolic mapping and mandala-based orientation.