This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailingprograms@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA and Kiersten Gallagher
Wherever you are on life’s journey, there are times when it can feel impossible to commit to a recurring program like a workshop series. Radical Writing Space is our answer to this conundrum of wanting to attend for some radical self-care, but struggling to commit.
Clinical studies have documented the healing psychological and psychical impacts of writing within a safe and sacred space. On the second Friday of each month, drop in for one hour for Radical Writing Space and join us for inspiring writing prompts, time to write, and time to share with one another about your experience of putting your most radical emotions, feelings, and experiences on paper.
The part that makes this writing so “radical” is that we create a safe space for it all — raw feelings, emotions, experiences — and, together, we give voice to them in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment.
This healing program offers a place for supporting one another and we stay clear of writing critique. Come and experience writing and sharing together.
Radical Writing Space will be hosted Monthly on the 2nd Friday from 11am – 12:30pm ET. No previous writing experience necessary. Drop-ins welcome!
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
Kiersten has served as the Cancer Support Program Director for Smith Center since 2014. Before coming to Smith Center, she had the privilege to serve individuals and families living with cancer at Wellness House of Annapolis. Kiersten aims to offer programs to reduce stress and help participants to see the world we live in from different perspectives. She thoroughly enjoys teaching yoga and creativity classes at Smith Center and encourages gentle movement and creativity in the healing process. Kiersten is a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance and also has her YCAT (Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness) Professional Certification through the Integral Yoga Academy. She has completed Patient Navigation training through Smith Center’s Institute for Integrative Oncology Navigation and has also completed the Commonweal Healing Circles: Advanced Cancer Support Training. Kiersten is also certified in CLIMB®(Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery) a program that aims to build upon the strengths of children and increase his/her ability to cope with stress associated with a parent’s illness. She believes in a holistic approach to healing, human relationships and is grateful for each and every day. Kiersten has also completed the Compassion Cultivation Training – CCT™ an 8-week program, developed at Stanford University, with insights and techniques from psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice. In her spare time, you may find Kiersten laughing with friends, cycling, taking art classes, practicing yoga and spending time with her husband Shane, son Liam, and dogs Beans and Pablo.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Kathleen O’Toole
Writing Through the Seasons
Moving Into Darkness Toward Light
Kathleen O’Toole is a poet whose work with haiku and other short poetic forms is deeply rooted in attention to the natural world. In her Writing through the Seasons workshops (December 9, 2023 and March 30, 2024) she will guide participants through poetry forms and writing practices that invite us to pay attention to the ways season changes bring special opportunities for healing and creativity.
The ancient Celtic calendar marks moments in which the light visibly shifts as openings to spirit and ritual. We’ll mark our own seasonal awareness, as the days shorten toward solstice, and again just after the spring equinox, collecting images and feelings to create our own “word paintings” (in the words of Yosa Buson, haiku master).
No previous poetry writing experience required, just an openness to playing with words. Bring an open heart, a notebook or sketchbook; whatever materials you need to respond to poetry and nature. (Previous participants have journaled, drafts of poems or sketches to capture what has surfaced in our sessions.)
Kathleen O’Toole is a poet whose work with haiku and other short poetic forms is deeply rooted in attention to the natural world. These three workshops will guide participants through poetry forms and writing practices that invite us to explore the ways season changes bring special opportunities for healing and creativity. The ancient Celts celebrated cross-quarter days as moments of magic and openings to spirit and ritual; we’ll mark our own seasonal awareness.
Writing Through the Seasons: The Healing Power of Nature will be offered as a program series, spread over the seasons.
Suggested Donation: $15/session
About Kathleen O’Toole
Takoma Park Poet Laureate Kathleen O’Toole is the author of 4 books of poetry (find her athttps://kathleenotoolepoetry.com). She has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. As evident in her longer work, she often seeks inspiration and consolation in nature. For more than thirty years she has been writing haiku as a spiritual practice of attention, and to deepen her experience of the natural world.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailingolivia@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Theresa Esterlund
Practice mindfulness in a new way and open to being – with yourself, with each other, with the present moment. In this workshop, you’ll be guided in a slow looking activity around a single work of art from the Joan Hisaoka gallery as a technique for accessing inner wisdom and sparking creative flow. In conjunction with this mindfulness practice, you’ll use a series of prompts and poetry writing techniques to express yourself through the written word, individually and collectively. You’ll discover new insights and fresh perspectives as you build empathy and learn to integrate this type of practice into your journey.
By slowing down as you look, you’ll be invited to explore personal insights, reflections, and ideas. You’ll also have an opportunity to practice opening to other perspectives and points of view through group participation. Slow looking (or slow art) comes out of the “slow” movement and is often intended to help you look at and learn about artwork, especially if you are not as comfortable or familiar with art. It can be applied to any kind of looking or listening (at a tree, a piece of music, another person), and when infused with mindfulness, it can be a powerful way to connect with yourself and each other.
Suggested Donation: $15/session
About Theresa Esterlund
Theresa Esterlund is an artist, educator, and mindfulness guide whose teaching draws from her deep experience and expertise. In her mindfulness practices, she facilitates pathways for integrated mindful living, creating environments for personal exploration and transformation that are based on individual experiences. Theresa’s collages are windows that open to the inside—as well as abstract landscapes and other arrangements. She currently brings her love of gathering, sorting, and composing to letterpress, which also gives her a path to integrate words and phrases from her poetry. After retiring from a professional career in museum education, Theresa channeled her vision to inspire compassionate connections into a stationery business, Open to Being, that reflects the intersection of her mindfulness and artistic practices.
PART 4/5. This program series is being offered virtually through Zoom. If you are interested in joining, please register by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA & Kiersten Gallagher
offered in partnership with the Ulman Foundation
SC Writes for YACS
Welcome back to SC Writes for YACS, where we will deepen our writing and sharing in a safe and supportive environment. No writing experience required. Activities will include mindfulness practices, writing exercises, and reflective practices.
Stay tuned for the theme of this SC Writes series.
Group members are encouraged to attend all sessions, but missing one session is fine. This series has limited capacity and therefore attendance is important. To illustrate, we use all sessions to foster community and build an open space for sharing.
SC Writes for Young Adult Cancer Survivors (YACS) is a 5-part program series that will meet on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:00pm EST. We will meet starting on Tuesday, November 7th.
Upcoming Program Dates:
November 28
December 5
Suggested Donation: $10/session or $35/series
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.
PART 3/5. This program series is being offered virtually through Zoom. If you are interested in joining, please register by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA & Kiersten Gallagher
offered in partnership with the Ulman Foundation
SC Writes for YACS
Welcome back to SC Writes for YACS, where we will deepen our writing and sharing in a safe and supportive environment. No writing experience required. Activities will include mindfulness practices, writing exercises, and reflective practices.
Stay tuned for the theme of this SC Writes series.
Group members are encouraged to attend all sessions, but missing one session is fine. This series has limited capacity and therefore attendance is important. To illustrate, we use all sessions to foster community and build an open space for sharing.
SC Writes for Young Adult Cancer Survivors (YACS) is a 5-part program series that will meet on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:00pm EST. We will meet starting on Tuesday, November 7th.
Upcoming Program Dates:
November 21 & 28
December 5
Suggested Donation: $10/session or $35/series
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.
PART 2/4. This program series is being offered virtually through Zoom. If you are interested in joining, please register by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA & Kiersten Gallagher
offered in partnership with the Ulman Foundation
SC Writes for YACS
Welcome back to SC Writes for YACS, where we will deepen our writing and sharing in a safe and supportive environment. No writing experience required. Activities will include mindfulness practices, writing exercises, and reflective practices.
Stay tuned for the theme of this SC Writes series.
Group members are encouraged to attend all sessions, but missing one session is fine. This series has limited capacity and therefore attendance is important. To illustrate, we use all sessions to foster community and build an open space for sharing.
SC Writes for Young Adult Cancer Survivors (YACS) is a 4-part program series that will meet on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:00pm EST. We will meet starting on Tuesday, November 7th.
Upcoming Program Dates:
November 14, 21 & 28
Suggested Donation: $10/session or $35/series
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailingprograms@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA and Kiersten Gallagher
Wherever you are on life’s journey, there are times when it can feel impossible to commit to a recurring program like a workshop series. Radical Writing Space is our answer to this conundrum of wanting to attend for some radical self-care, but struggling to commit.
Clinical studies have documented the healing psychological and psychical impacts of writing within a safe and sacred space. On the second Friday of each month, drop in for one hour for Radical Writing Space and join us for inspiring writing prompts, time to write, and time to share with one another about your experience of putting your most radical emotions, feelings, and experiences on paper.
The part that makes this writing so “radical” is that we create a safe space for it all — raw feelings, emotions, experiences — and, together, we give voice to them in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment.
This healing program offers a place for supporting one another and we stay clear of writing critique. Come and experience writing and sharing together.
Radical Writing Space will be hosted Monthly on the 2nd Friday from 11am – 12:30pm ET. No previous writing experience necessary. Drop-ins welcome!
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
Kiersten has served as the Cancer Support Program Director for Smith Center since 2014. Before coming to Smith Center, she had the privilege to serve individuals and families living with cancer at Wellness House of Annapolis. Kiersten aims to offer programs to reduce stress and help participants to see the world we live in from different perspectives. She thoroughly enjoys teaching yoga and creativity classes at Smith Center and encourages gentle movement and creativity in the healing process. Kiersten is a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance and also has her YCAT (Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness) Professional Certification through the Integral Yoga Academy. She has completed Patient Navigation training through Smith Center’s Institute for Integrative Oncology Navigation and has also completed the Commonweal Healing Circles: Advanced Cancer Support Training. Kiersten is also certified in CLIMB®(Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery) a program that aims to build upon the strengths of children and increase his/her ability to cope with stress associated with a parent’s illness. She believes in a holistic approach to healing, human relationships and is grateful for each and every day. Kiersten has also completed the Compassion Cultivation Training – CCT™ an 8-week program, developed at Stanford University, with insights and techniques from psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice. In her spare time, you may find Kiersten laughing with friends, cycling, taking art classes, practicing yoga and spending time with her husband Shane, son Liam, and dogs Beans and Pablo.
PART 1/4. This program series is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA & Kiersten Gallagher
offered in partnership with the Ulman Foundation
SC Writes for YACS
Welcome back to SC Writes for YACS, where we will deepen our writing and sharing in a safe and supportive environment. No writing experience required. Activities will include mindfulness practices, writing exercises, and reflective practices.
Stay tuned for the theme of this SC Writes series.
Group members are encouraged to attend all sessions, but missing one session is fine. This series has limited capacity and therefore attendance is important. To illustrate, we use all sessions to foster community and build an open space for sharing.
SC Writes for Young Adult Cancer Survivors (YACS) is a 4-part program series that will meet on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:00pm EST. We will meet starting on Tuesday, November 7th.
Upcoming Program Dates:
November 7, 14, 21 & 28
Suggested Donation: $10/session or $35/series
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
As the Cancer Support Program Director, Kiersten fully believes that through the arts we can expand our perspectives and explore new fulfilling ways of being. She invites you to make our space your own refuge, to circumvent your daily routine to spark creativity, to take time for introspection, and draw outside the lines.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing olivia@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Gayle Danley, national & international poetry slam champion
Gayle Performing in Frederick, MD
Slam poetry began in Chicago’s bars and coffeehouses in the late 1980’s. This phenomenal blend of spoken and written word turns every willing soul into a poet while providing relief from the stresses of the day. Master teaching artist Gayle Danley has shared her down-on-the-floor style of performance poetry all over the country in classrooms, lecture halls, theatres and even on CBS’ 60 minutes.
Join her for much laughter, emotion, comfort, understanding and instruction in the art of slam poetry. Her 4-step process has been tried in the fire and proven to be an effective antidote to the blues of the day and the isolation that threatens to drive us mad!
Suggested Donation: $15
Poem for my Sisters With Sons:
Breathe:
Pull a clean fist of air inside your self
and let it rest there
wide and unfrightened inside your belly
asking for nothing
Remember when the baby boy was there
Stirring and fighting and kicking things around
inside of you.
And where is he now?
Kicking at air
asking for everything
Defiance rippling on the edge of his skin
Beautiful as water
And do not worry if your brown boy
doesn’t smile enough
as long as he still smiles at you:
over dinner
over the news
from beneath a curtain of hair tangled and sprawled,
it is enough
Does he still know your name?
Good.
Does he still reach for you when there is blood
Does he still make you want to kill him on Monday mornings
Soon after crushing the competition at Asheville’s National Poetry Slam in 1994, Gayle Danley entered America’s classrooms teaching thousands of children how to access their emotions through the force of words. She performed and taught her way from Maryland Young Audience’s Artist of the Year, to National Young Audience’s Artist of the Year. She’s also both a former national and international poetry slam champion. CBS 60 Minutes profiled her work with middle schoolers as well as the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and New York Times.
For the past five years, Gayle’s Grieffriend sessions have helped women who are living with AIDS, widows, incarcerated youth and those struggling with drug addiction and recovery use poetry to cope and bravely face life’s challenges.
Gayle was recently named Maryland Library Association Poet of the Year.
This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailingprograms@smithcenter.org.
You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.
with Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA and Kiersten Gallagher
Wherever you are on life’s journey, there are times when it can feel impossible to commit to a recurring program like a workshop series. Radical Writing Space is our answer to this conundrum of wanting to attend for some radical self-care, but struggling to commit.
Clinical studies have documented the healing psychological and psychical impacts of writing within a safe and sacred space. On the second Friday of each month, drop in for one hour for Radical Writing Space and join us for inspiring writing prompts, time to write, and time to share with one another about your experience of putting your most radical emotions, feelings, and experiences on paper.
The part that makes this writing so “radical” is that we create a safe space for it all — raw feelings, emotions, experiences — and, together, we give voice to them in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment.
This healing program offers a place for supporting one another and we stay clear of writing critique. Come and experience writing and sharing together.
Radical Writing Space will be hosted Monthly on the 2nd Friday from 11am – 12:30pm ET. No previous writing experience necessary. Drop-ins welcome!
About Mindy Brodsky, LCSWA
Mindy Brodsky specializes in trauma-informed, strengths-based counseling with a passion for integrative health and healing. Mindy honors her clients as the experts of their lives, and she strives to provide a supportive and safe environment.
After a career in social justice advocacy and her own challenging health journey, Mindy aspires to meet her clients where they are to help them achieve their goals.
About Kiersten Gallagher
Kiersten has served as the Cancer Support Program Director for Smith Center since 2014. Before coming to Smith Center, she had the privilege to serve individuals and families living with cancer at Wellness House of Annapolis. Kiersten aims to offer programs to reduce stress and help participants to see the world we live in from different perspectives. She thoroughly enjoys teaching yoga and creativity classes at Smith Center and encourages gentle movement and creativity in the healing process. Kiersten is a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance and also has her YCAT (Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness) Professional Certification through the Integral Yoga Academy. She has completed Patient Navigation training through Smith Center’s Institute for Integrative Oncology Navigation and has also completed the Commonweal Healing Circles: Advanced Cancer Support Training. Kiersten is also certified in CLIMB®(Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery) a program that aims to build upon the strengths of children and increase his/her ability to cope with stress associated with a parent’s illness. She believes in a holistic approach to healing, human relationships and is grateful for each and every day. Kiersten has also completed the Compassion Cultivation Training – CCT™ an 8-week program, developed at Stanford University, with insights and techniques from psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice. In her spare time, you may find Kiersten laughing with friends, cycling, taking art classes, practicing yoga and spending time with her husband Shane, son Liam, and dogs Beans and Pablo.
