Tag: YACS

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Mikhail Hogan, MD, ABIOM, RCST, and Rabbi James Kahn

Medical Marijuana for Oncology Patients

Cannabis is becoming more widely available as a medicine in the United States as well as throughout the world. Although its medicinal use dates back thousands of years, health care providers trained in modern times during cannabis prohibition and stigmatization have very little knowledge regarding the pharmacology, benefits and risks, and dosing recommendations. Oncology patients are increasingly relying on on-line testimonials or advice from cannabis dispensaries to determine if cannabis may be useful for them.

 

Recent surveys have shown that at least 50% of oncologist would like to have their patients try medical cannabis but only few actively prescribe mostly due to lack of education on the topic.

 

This session will outline the basics of the system of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoids, review clinical situations where cannabis may be a useful intervention and discuss and demonstrate some of the currently available delivery systems.

Objectives:

  • Enumerate the clinical situations which have the best evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis as it relates to oncology patients.
  • Discuss the effects obtained from different strains and modes of delivery of medicinal cannabis.
  • Understand basics of the process of obtaining medical cannabis in DC area.

About Mikhail Hogan, MD, ABIOM, RCST

Mikhail Hogan

Dr Kogan is a leader in the newly-established field of Integrative Geriatrics. He is the chief editor of the first definitive textbook of the field entitled “Integrative Geriatric Medicine”, published by Oxford University Press as part of Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Library series and is frequent speaker at  a variety of international conferences on the topics of Integrative Medicine, Geriatrics, healthy aging, as well as  medical cannabis. While Dr Kogan’s main medical cannabis expertise is in treating older patients and palliating symptoms at end of life he also treats wide arrange of internal medicine problems from chronic GI problems to cancers where use of medical cannabis can be very beneficial. In October 2021 Dr Kogan in collaboration with Dr. Joan Liebmann-Smith and Pinguin Random Publishing House published Medical Marijuana, Dr Kogan’s Evidence-Based guide to the health benefits of cannabis and CBD.

Dr. Kogan currently serves as medical director of the GW Center for Integrative Medicine, associate professor of medicine in division of Geriatric and Palliative Care, and associate director of the Geriatrics and Integrative Medicine Fellowship Programs and director of Integrative Medicine Track program at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine.

Dr Kogan is also the founder and the executive director of AIM Health Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that provides integrative medicine services to low-income and terminally ill patients regardless of their ability to pay.

About Rabbi James Kahn

Rabbi James Kahn

Rabbi James Kahn is the Executive Director of Liberty Cannabis Cares (LCC), the social impact and corporate responsibility team at Holistic Industries, one of the largest, privately held, multi-state cannabis operators in the U.S.  Rabbi James, as he’s known to colleagues and friends, has been with Holistic since its earliest days – opening the very first Liberty dispensary in 2019 before transitioning to a national position as Director of Community Outreach. He is a passionate cannabis activist and educator, with more than a decade of experience in the industry. His work at Holistic is focused around four key pillars: social equity, diversity, education, and community engagement. James’ career in cannabis began in 2011, when he and his family opened Takoma Wellness Center, Washington, D.C.’s oldest (and largest) medical cannabis dispensary. James continues to serve Takoma as a strategic business advisor.  As an ordained rabbi, James has served in a range of positions, including Senior Jewish Educator at the University of Maryland Hillel, Director of Chaplaincy at JSSA (a large social service agency serving the DMV area), Rabbinic Director for D.C.’s Hebrew Free Burial Society and the Washington Board of Rabbis. He currently serves on numerous boards, including the National Hispanic Cannabis Council, the International Jewish Cannabis Association, and the United States Veterans Chamber of Commerce. His unique blend of cannabis experience and community service inspires Holistic’s values as a company and improves the industry as a whole.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Theresa Walker

Seeing with the Heart - A Cinquain Writing Practice

Gather some photographs, magazine images, or your own art work… work that inspires joy or gratitude.

 

We will select an image of our own and write a poem — a cinquain, under the guidance of the facilitator. A cinquain is a 5-line poem with a specific form that’s easy to follow. The poem is meant to “express the heart of an experience in just a few words.”

 

We will share our poems, images, and gratitude for life experiences. We will begin the workshop with a short period of silence and body meditation for relaxation.

Suggested Donation: $10

About Theresa Walker

Theresa Walker is a registered SoulCollage® facilitator and has led groups since 2011. She is a certified expressive arts facilitator, trained at Salve Regina University in writing and visual arts, and she is a graduate of Shalem’s Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups program. She finds that SoulCollage®, especially in a Group setting, offers participants a unique experience of playfulness, insight, and creativity.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Beth Lawrence, RYT500

Joint Freeing Series

There are points in our lives when we don’t have the time or energy to fit a yoga class into our schedule, though we know it would be beneficial. Beginning a shorter, personal practice a few days a week is one way to fit a little yoga into your everyday life.

 

The Joint Freeing Series is a great way to start such a practice because it can be easily learned, it can be modified to suit anyone’s needs and, once learned, it takes about 15 minutes to complete.

 

This one-time class will teach you how to do the Joint Freeing Series, promoted by Mukunda Stiles, founder of Structural Yoga Therapy. The series can help gain and maintain mobility, strength and flexibility in the joints. During this hour long class, we’ll go over the original movements of the series and some variations that will help you form a practice that you can do as often as you’d like.

Suggested Donation: $15

About Beth Lawrence

Beth Lawrence Gentle Yoga Chair Yoga Instructor Smith Center

Beth discovered yoga in early 2002 as a mother of six month old twins. She was looking to get back into shape after their birth. In yoga, she found far more than she anticipated- an age old practice designed to help people relieve stress- both mental and physical. After a few years of regular practice, she knew she wanted to share her positive experiences with others. She has been leading yoga classes in the DC area since 2007 after completing her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Nth Degree Yoga with Martha Rosen. In 2011, she went back to earn her RYT500. Her personal practice is inspired by Integral Yoga and Sivananda Yoga, both of which incorporate body and mind into the practice.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

Cooking with Soy

Join Chef Kara for an informative and interactive hour where we discuss all things soy. Soybeans are packed with nutrients that are highly beneficial when used as a plant-based complete protein.

 

Chef Kara will share the most recent studies and guidance regarding the use of soy products as part of a cancer-fighting diet to promote health. You will learn how soybeans are transformed into delicious culinary ingredients such as soy milk, tofu, tempeh, miso and shoyu (soy sauce).

 

Chef Kara will demonstrate helpful cooking tips & techniques for these products and share her favorite easy recipes to introduce and expand the use of delicious soy products in your kitchen.

Suggested Donation: $15

About Kara Garrett

Kara Garrett

Kara is a health-supportive chef based in Washington, DC. Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2013, she embraced the challenge of finding a balance between her foodie lifestyle and eating well with cancer. She has adopted a flexible diet plan that focuses on plant-based, sustainable whole foods, but does not restrict indulgences of things she loves. She is passionate about working with others to encourage healthier food choices that energize the body and the soul.

Kara graduated in August 2017 from the Chef Training Program at Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC and spent one month as the sous chef at The Ananda Ashram Yoga Society of New York in Monroe, NY. She is currently enrolled in the Developing Healthy Communities: Nutrition, Behavior, and Physical Activity graduate program at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Bobbie Marchand

Tools for Living Authentically with Cancer

In the midst of Cancer’s wake, what if you could:

  • Cultivate practices of self-care that align with your highest values that are nurturing and healing
  • Manage the feelings and energies of anxiety/fear/sadness/confusion/frustration that inevitably arise
  • Discover empowering ways to communicate with your circles of support and Medical Team
  • Know yourself in a deeper, more connected way that prepares you for the journey ahead and within

 

As a two-time Survivor and the Daughter of a four-time Survivor, Cancer has been a part of my life for decades. It is my hope in this series to share with you, ways we have coped, dealt and healed along the way. Every journey is deeply personal, these tools are universal; for everyone, to take and shape to fit your own unique circumstances. Registrants should bring with them:

  • A new, fresh journal that’s only for this work
  • Pen and pencil
  • Wear clothes that are comfortable

Tools for Living Authentically with Cancer will be offered as a 2-part program series to cancer patients/survivors at any point in their journey.

Program Series Dates:

  • Saturday, March 5th & 12th, 10:00-11:15am ET

Participants are expected to attend both sessions in the 2-part series.

Suggested Donation: $25/series

About Bobbie Marchand

In addition to being a two-time Breast Cancer Survivor (BRCA1+), she is a dedicated Mom, accomplished Yoga Instructor, avid Cook and Wellness Advocate. As a former Professional Dancer, Bobbie has always leaned into life through the lens of Movement and the Healing Arts; helping her make sense of the un-sensical, finding a sense of purpose in the many twists and turns experienced along the way. She is passionate about uncovering the ways in which Cancer can inform, rather than define our lives as patients; how such a disease has the potential to clear a path to live more fully, humbly and in deeper connection to ourselves and what we truly value in life.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Martina Sestakova

Insightful Collage Watercolor Workshop

Join art educator Martina Sestakova for a workshop, during which you get to create a unique collage. We will learn about basic watercolor techniques and explore ideas behind colors, shapes, and textures. As a result, we will create a deeply meaningful collage through a fun creative process.

No experience is needed: just your curious self!

 

Suggested Materials:

  • 2 sheets of watercolor paper (9″ x 12″)
  • Thin strips of watercolor paper (e.g., 9″ x 12″ cut up into strips that are .1″ x 12″, have about 15 strips on hand)
  • 1 cup for water
  • 1 watercolor paints (tray or tubes)
  • Glue stick (school glue)
  • 1 pencil or pen
  • Paper for notes

Suggested Donation: $10

About Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova

Martina Sestakova (owner at RADOST) engages in textile design, painting, and art education. Martina creates scarves that invoke stories of life experiences. Her scarves have been featured on Voice of America and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). In her paintings on yupo, she communicates words through colors and shapes. Her artworks have been shown at the Adah Rose Gallery (MD) and Latela Curatorial (DC) and other art institutions. As an art educator, Martina offers workshops and brings creativity to the public and communities with limited access to the arts. Martina Sestakova resides in Kensington, MD.

To register for this program, please visit: http://ow.ly/5AFF50Hzo09

In Partnership with Life with Cancer and Hope Connections

Hot Topics for Young Adults : Let's Talk About Sex AND Pleasure

For young adults, sex is an important topic, and pleasure may be the most important aspect of sex. For young adults with cancer, there are unique questions and concerns about sex and sexual health that the medical team may not be adequately answering, and pleasure is likely never discussed. Join us as we have a frank and honest conversation, and provide accurate information to help support a safe, healthy, and pleasurable approach to sex and cancer.

About Hope Connections

Hope Connections for Cancer Support

Our mission: To help people with cancer and their loved ones deal with the emotional and physical impact of cancer through participation in professionally facilitated programs of emotional support, education, wellness, and hope.

About

About Life with Cancer

Inova Life with Cancer

Life with Cancer, a program of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, has become Northern Virginia’s leading cancer education and support organization. We offer a variety of programs and services for patients, survivors, and their family members to help individuals cope with cancer, its treatments, and survivorship in the best possible way.

About Us

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

Featuring Anthony Hyatt, Caleb Hacker, Nina, Scott Stoner, Tamara Wellons, Tiffany Carmouche and Turner Houston. Hosted by Lisa Simms Booth.

2021 Marks the 25th Anniversary of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts

Patient & Participant in Our Artist-in-Residence Program

Smith Center 25th Anniversary Conversation Series

Signature Programs: Artist-in-Residence Program

The year 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. In celebration of this momentous achievement, we are launching a series of special conversations. Across the course of the coming year, members of our Smith Center family will join us to reflect upon Smith Center’s roots, examine its present programs and impact, and imagine what the future may hold for us at Smith Center and the larger world of integrative healing.

Our next collection of conversations, focused on Smith Center’s Signature Programs, will resume on Monday, February 28th from 6 – 7:30 pm (Eastern Time). Highlighting our Artist-in-Residence Programs, we are honored to welcome a few of our program administrators, artists and care recipients: Anthony Hyatt, Caleb Hacker, Nina, Scott Stoner, Tamara Wellons Tiffany Carmouche, and Turner Houston. The panel will be interviewed by Smith Center’s Executive Director, Lisa Simms Booth.

We hope you will join us for the conversations in this special series. Please feel free to circulate this announcement and share with others the details of this upcoming conversation.

This program is being offered to support Smith Center’s 25th Anniversary. Participants are encouraged to donate $25 (or whatever amount you can afford) to support our work.

Smith Center’s 25th Anniversary Conversation Series will be hosted throughout 2021.

Selected Themes:

  • Visionary Leaders in Integrative Care
  • Smith Center’s Signature Programs
  • Participants’ Perspectives
  • Envisioning the Future

All donations for the 25th Anniversary Conversation Series will support Smith Center’s 25th Anniversary Fund. Suggested Donation: $25.

About Anthony Hyatt

Anthony Hyatt

Anthony Hyatt is a violinist who incorporates singing and movement in his work at many Washington, DC area health and human service organizations. Also a teaching artist, he is well-versed across music genres and improvisation practices. He adheres to “The Art of Presence” as a means for engaging patients, caregivers and staff in arts-based healing experiences. He is currently working on a book about his Arts in Healthcare experiences. 

About Caleb Hacker

Caleb Hacker

Caleb Hacker is a singer-songwriter, born and raised in northern Virginia. His unique voice and style helped him grow a loyal fan base worldwide through posting covers and originals on his YouTube channel – including recognition by top artists like Snoop Dogg and Christina Aguilera. He is building a local fanbase in the DMV, performing at an array of venues throughout the area, is currently gearing up to release an EP of all new original music.

About Scott Stoner

Scott Stoner

Scott Stoner serves as advisor and an artist in residence for Smith Center’s AIR Program. He has devoted his career to advancing the arts as a catalyst for social change, conflict resolution, and healing in communities nationally and internationally. Since 1999, he has recruited, trained, and supervised multi-disciplinary teams of artists for Smith Center’s Artist in Residence Programs. He holds graduate level degrees in Art Education and in Mental Health Sciences (Art Therapy), and as a visual artist, Scott works with mixed media.

About Tamara Wellons

Tamara Wellons

Tamara Wellons is the program manager for Smith Center’s Air Program. She is a professional vocal music artist with over a decade of experience in the recording industry and a diverse career as a performer and a recording artist. Prior to Smith Center, Tamara worked as a singer-in-residence for the Arts and Humanities Program (AHP) at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at MedStar’s Georgetown University Hospital. Tamara is Vice President of the Washington, DC Chapter of the Recording Academy.

About Tiffany Carmouche

Tiffany Carmouche

Tiffany Carmouche is a social conscious sculptor, author, and advocate devoted to art and creativity as an essential means of healing ourselves, our communities, and to foster social change. She has employed her creative skills to lead workshops and retreats that integrated music, dance, and visual arts to inspire and empower others to embrace self-expression, innovation and living life without regret. 

About Turner Houston

Turner Houston

Turner Houston blogs about creativity and her various passions as a photographer, a writer, a painter, and teacher of knitting and collage-making for health and healing. Formerly an art director and executive producer at The National Geographic Society,  she pursued the design and production of educational CD-ROMs in California–most notably with the Walt Disney Company. She currently devotes her time to her art, and to using art to bring a sense of calm and healing for patients, staff and caregivers at Inova Schar Cancer Institute.

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 carla@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Kathleen O’Toole

Writing through the Seasons : The Healing Power of Nature

Writing Through the Seasons

Celtic Spring: Welcoming the Light

Halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, the Celts celebrated Imbolc (February 2), the feast of lambing and the first day of spring. Though we may read in the groundhog’s shadow the prospect of more winter ahead, early February is a good time to notice the lengthening light and hints of spring and new life ahead. We’ll use our windows, memories and imaginations to write in that spirit.

Find a comfy chair or a window seat and bring writing material.

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, beginning in Fall 2021.

Program Dates: 

  • Saturday, February 5th, 10:00-11:30am ET
  • Saturday, May 14th, 10:00-11:30am ET

Suggested Donation: $10/session or $25/series

About Kathleen O’Toole

Kathleen O'Toole

Takoma Park Poet Laureate Kathleen O’Toole is the author of 4 books of poetry (find her at https://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 series is being offered virtually through Zoom. If you missed the first sessions, please email carla@smithcenter.org to register.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Jodi Kanter

“[D]rama as therapy sets a stage in which truths are revealed, deeper levels of communication and understanding are attained, and the personal reverberates toward the universal.”

– Renée Emunah, Drama Therapist

 

Psychiatrists and social workers have been using drama for therapeutic purposes for at least the last 100 years. Today, the principal objectives of dramatherapy are:

  • strengthening of observational and relational skills,
  • greater access to emotional expression (and emotional containment), and
  • the expansion of the many roles we play in everyday life.

 

We’ll explore a range of tools and methods including role methods, psychodrama, sociodrama and forum theater. We’ll also dip into other expressive therapies including movement, writing, music, and visual arts. 

 

Healing Through Drama will be offered as a 4-part workshop series, with each week building on the next. Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions to get the most out of the group, dramatherapy tools and practices.

Healing Through Drama is a 4-part program series hosted on Fridays from 1:00 – 3:00pm ET, beginning on January 14th, 2022.

Participants are encouraged to attend all four sessions to get the most out of the program. By registering above, you will be registered for all four sessions. Please let us know in advance if you will not be able to attend all four sessions.

Program Sessions: 

  • Fridays, January 14th, 21st & 28th, 1:00 – 3:00pm
  • Friday, February 4th, 1:00 – 3:00pm

Suggested Donation: $10/session or $25/series

About Jodi Kanter

Jodi Kanter

Jodi has been involved in theater since she was ten years old. She grew up acting and studying performance in American theater’s “Second City,” Chicago Illinois.  She is currently a professor of theatre in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University, where she has been on faculty for nearly fifteen years. Her academic work in theater includes her book, Performing Loss: Strengthening Communities Through Theatre and Writing (2007). Jodi’s focus on performance as a tool for individual and social healing and change has led her to create workshops, events and productions in a wide variety of settings including hospitals, schools, and prisons.

Most recently, she co-created a four-month diversity and inclusion program for members of DC’s fourteen Neighborhood Village associations using the methodology of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Jodi holds a PhD. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in dramatherapy at Lesley University.